


Unbroken Family

by Blu_Crowe



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Drunk Nick Burkhardt, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Love Potion/Spell, Original Character(s), Post-Season/Series 03 AU, Truth Serum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:53:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 53,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25923916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blu_Crowe/pseuds/Blu_Crowe
Summary: Nick refuses to separate a mother from her child when his mother brings Adalind to him with Diana. Things are easier without that betrayal.(I always thought it was off that Nick, who lost his own Mother, would be okay with taking a child like that.)
Relationships: Nick Burkhardt/Adalind Schade
Comments: 35
Kudos: 217





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first Grimm fanfiction, so be kind.

"No!" The word came out of his mouth without giving him time to think. Nick couldn't believe they were even talking about this.

"It's the only way to keep her safe. This child could change history Nick." His mother whispered, trying not to let Adalind hear them. Nick looked over at Juliette, but she seemingly agreed with his mother.

"You want me to help take a child away from her mother? Forget that Adalind is the mother, I can't do that. I won't." Nick squared his stance, putting himself between them and the stairs. His mother sighed, a pained look flashing across her stony expression.

"This isn't the same as what happened to you Nick, she's a hexenbiest, and she tried to kill all of us at least once!" Juliette hissed, as if he didn't know that. He knew she couldn't be left alone with the child, but that didn't mean he could let them do this to the baby.

"I know what she is. I also know what my Mom is. How many people see you as a monster? There has to be another way." Nick took a step back his heel touching the first step, how could Juliette not understand why he felt this way?

"She tried to sell her baby Nick, how could you think she could be a good mother? I don't even know how she can think about bringing a child into this world, I couldn't." Juliette shook her head, turning away from him. Her words hit him like a brick to the gut, she couldn't? She didn't want that with him? Why was she still here if she didn't want the life he was fighting for?

"I know this isn't ideal, but I'll be with her. She'll have a mother, just not her mother." Kelly reached out to touch his shoulder, he pulled back, away from her touch.

"What happens when it's safer for her for you to disappear? Safer for you to be dead?" Nick felt empty, worn thin. He'd never imagined he'd be on Adalind's side, but he could over look her for an innocent child. The baby wasn't guilty of anything.

"Nicky... That will never happen again. She's too important." Kelly reached for him again, he shook his head.

"And I wasn't? No, we'll find a different way." Nick turned, and climbed the stairs quickly. He didn't trust his mother not to push it, and as much as he hated to think it, Adalind should know who to trust. He knocked on the door to the guest bedroom.

"Come in." She stage whispered, when he opened the door she sat on the edge of the bed, cradling the baby against her chest, rocking her slowly. She looked peaceful, sweet even, which made him uncomfortable.

"Is she asleep?" He whispered, she nodded, looking up at him, worry clear in her tired eyes.

"I'm sorry she brought us here, I didn't know. I know I've done a lot of bad things to you, and your friends, but Diana didn't. She hasn't done anything, please, you don't have to help us, but just don't do anything to my baby!" Her voice grew tight as she got to the end, tears threatening to spill. She looked up, trying to blink them back.

"I hate you, any other time I would have just as soon cut your head off as help you, but your baby, Diana? She needs my help, and I promise I'm going to do what I can to keep her safe, and with her mother." He said, she laughed, a broken little huff of air, that could easily have been mistaken for a sob.

"That's fair. More than I deserve probably, but you did steal my powers." She wiped at her eyes with the back of the hand not cradling Diana. In the small space bedroom, with it's soft lamp light she almost looked fragile.

"You were trying to kill my partner, and you tried to kill my aunt. Look, I'm not up here to fight. I just wanted to tell you to keep Diana with you. I'm worried my Mother thinks she'll be safer without you, I don't, but that might not stop them." He said, she tightened her grip on Diana, shifting her away from the door.

"I won't let them take my baby! I'll die first!" She woged, he jaw cracking, rotting teeth snapping at him. He held a hand up to calm her down.

"I know. I'm going to stay outside your room, and we'll move you some place safer tomorrow. I think I have a plan, but it's going to take a minute to pull it together. I promise, I won't let them take Diana's mother away from her." He moved to back out of the room, she watched him, her woge melting back.

"Nick." He paused, looking up at her. "Why are you doing this for me?" Her voice hitched, hesitant to poke at his logic when it got her what she wanted.

"I'm not. No child should grow up without a mother, not even yours." He closed the door, and went to get himself something to sit in while he stood vigil. Juliette came up an hour later, maybe less, he was drifting in and out, unable to really sleep, but he could rest.

"Nick." She touched his arm, he swiveled the computer chair away, setting his lap top on the floor.

"Can we talk?" She nodded towards their room. 

"Not if we can't do it here. I don't for one second think my Mother is giving up on her plan." Nick crossed his arms, she frowned, leaning down to try and keep her voice quiet enough Adalind wouldn't hear.

"I don't understand why you're so angry. She wants to protect the baby." Juliette tried to stroke his cheek, and it took him a long moment before he could relax into her familiar touch.

"Diana. That's her name. I have a plan, and it doesn't have to include kidnapping." Nick covered her hand with his, running his thumb across the soft skin of her wrist. With his computer shut the hall hardly had enough light to see the pinch between her brows.

"How are you going to hide a Hexenbaby? She is already using her powers." Juliette yanked her hand away, how could she be angry with him. He was the one trying to protect a baby, not rob it of it's mother. 

"I don't know, honestly I thought the blood of a Grimm if we have too, but not before I talk to Rosalee." He leaned back, picking up his computer again. Juliette narrowed her eyes, watching him for a long time.

"Tell me this isn't about her. How is this not you protecting the woman who ripped my life away Nick?" This time Juliette didn't bother to whisper, Nick didn't care if Adalind heard, but he didn't want her to wake the baby.

"Adalind is a monster, I know that, we all do, but when I met Monroe, and a lot of my closest friends they thought I was a monster too. How many people do you think see my Mother as a monster? My aunt Marie? Did I deserve to lose my Mother?" He spoke calmly, and kept his voice quiet, but the longer she talked about this the harder it was to remain level headed.

"That's different! Diana is too powerful, you heard your mother." She glared at the closed door, Nick sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"It's not. We'll figure something out, for Diana. You should get some sleep." He dismissed her, she looked at him like she didn't recognize him. Almost twenty minutes later, when he could hear Juliette's breathing even out the door behind him opened slowly.

"You okay?" He eyed her, a bit suspicious of her sudden appearance.

"Yes." She stood with Diana sleeping soundly just at the edge of her peripheral vision on the bed. He tilted his head, trying to prompt her to continue, or go away.

"I have an idea, to help hide Diana. We can't use the blood of a Grimm, I already had it in me when she was born, but we can make a suppressant, something to keep her powers in check until she's old enough to learn how to use them." Adalind looked down the hall, shifting uncomfortably as she spoke.

"I've never heard of anything like that, and we did a lot of research while you were trying to kill us." Nick got to his feet, looking over her shoulder at the sleeping Diana.

"No, you wouldn't have. It's pretty rare, and it requires a dead hexenbiest. A long dead hexenbiest, so don't get your hopes up. Fortunately I know where to find one." Adalind crossed her arms, steeling her expression to counter the bone tired look in her eyes.

"Okay. We can look into it tomorrow with Rosalee. You need to get some sleep." He nodded his chin towards the bed.

"Forgive me if I'm afraid to go to sleep in a house full of people who either want me dead, or want to steal my baby." She bit back, her tone ice cold, he raised a brow at her, not in the least bit phased.

"Nothing is happening tonight. I'm out here, losing sleep, so you don't have too. If you're staying up, I'll go to bed." He turned to grab the back of the chair, Adalind snatched at his elbow, her slender fingers digging into his arm.

"No! I... I'll try and get some sleep." She said, looking away from him, he let go of the chair, slipping back into it, and out of Adalind's grasp. It would be a long night.

~~

"They can come with us, the last place anyone will look for her is with the people she tried to repeatedly kill for the royals." Nick picked up a plate with eggs, bacon, and toast on it, balancing a glass of orange juice in the other hand.

"He's right, everyone knows how much we supposedly hate her." Juliette gave him a hard look over her coffee.

"Fine, but hiding her powers won't be enough to keep her safe, not while she's with Adalind." Kelly relented, she too had a hard stare for him. Nick rolled his eyes, going to wake up said angry hexenbiest. He braced the juice in the crook of his arm, knocking lightly. She opened the door, tense, and clearly not well rested.

"I thought you'd rather eat up here. You can take a quick shower, but we need to leave in twenty minutes. I want to get you to the spice shop, and start getting things together for your new life." Nick moved past her, setting the plate down on the dresser.

"I don't like bacon." She mumbled, hugging her arms around herself, she looked so small. He made a face, because how could anyone not like bacon, and snatched the three strips from the plate. He popped one into his mouth, and twitched his brows up with a smug little smirk. She shook her head, watching him pause over a sleeping Diana to smile down at her.

"There's a new toothbrush in there for you." He jerked his thumb back at the bathroom before walking out.

"What exactly is your plan?" Kelly and Juliette were waiting for him when he came back down. He swallowed the last bit of bacon.

"We can get false documentation, Rosalee had a few connections there, and we can mark her as a person of interest in her mother's murder, leave a trail that will have the royals chasing their tails, while we set Adalind up with one of the discarded witness protection identities. They have a history, and they won't look like a new thing cropping up. They won't be as pulled together as if we actually went through WITSEC, but there won't be a paper trail." Nick said, they shared a look, it wasn't the worst idea. 

"We'll need a truck, something reliable, and not stolen unfortunately." Kelly said, Nick nodded, grabbing the laptop, and opening it to show the three or four options he already wanted to look at.

"It's a good place to start. Even if we have to abandon the identities of will give us time to prepare." Kelly relented, Nick crossed his arms, leaving the computer on the kitchen counter to take his turn giving a hard stare. 

"I sent the addresses to Bud, he's looking at them now. He'll text me if one works out." Nick certainly hadn't been sitting idle while he'd been stuck staying up all night.

"I don't think I'll ever understand why you'd want to keep that poor little girl with someone as volatile as Adalind, her life is dangerous, but I'll help any way I can." Juliette tucked up close to him, and he put his arm around her out of habit. He loved that she would stand by him even if she didn't agree, but he wished she could see what she was saying about their future by thinking that way. Their life was equally dangerous, maybe even more so in some ways.

"Sorry, she's hungry, and I don't exactly have a nursing bra, but you said I only had twenty minutes." Adalind came down as quickly as she could while feeding Diana. Her shirt pulled up, and what he suspected was his towel draped over her shoulder, and Daina.

"It's fine, she can eat in the car. There are some additions to that plan, that I think we should work on." Kelly went out the back, waiting for no one. Adalind looked at Nick, a bit startled, when did she decide he was the one to look to. His life would be so much better if he'd killed her in the hospital with Marie.

"I actually had an idea about that. The protection part, I don't even know the plan. There are actually a lot of spells to keep us hidden. We should get the books, and some other things from my mother's storage locker, since we're digging her up any way." Adalind offered, Nick nodded, as much as he hated hexenbiest magic, he could admit to it's effectiveness.

"I can send Monroe to get it now, and meet us back at the spice shop with them." Nick opened the door for her, and then Juliette.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. Some of that stuff is pretty dangerous. If you don't want me going you could send Sean. He would know what not to do with most of it." Adalind pressed herself as far into the door behind the driver's side as she could, putting distance between her, and Nick's mother.

"Text him the address, and what you need." Nick held his phone over the back of his seat while he pulled on to the road. She took the phone, unlocking it without having to ask for the code, which concerned him. Before she could send the message Kelly snatched it from her. She rolled her eyes, but there was nothing sneaky in the message, so his mom sent it.

"Nick!" Rosalee smiled when he walked in, but it quickly changed to a look of confusion when the rest of the group entered. 

"And Adalind? Wait, she didn't try to kill you again did she? Is that a baby?" Nick flipped the sign to closed, locking the door.

"Yes, not that I know of, and yes. Is Monroe here? " Nick put a hand on the small of Juliette's back, leading the group towards the side room.

"Monroe! Nick's here, he brought... Company." She yelled towards the basement, following them.

"Company? Like Hank, and Juliette?" Monroe hustled up the stairs, his mouth falling open when he saw the group gathered there.

"Dude!" He zeroed in on Nick.

"I know. Long story short, this is Diana, she's the daughter of a royal, and seriously powerful. We need to get her, and her mother," he gestured to Adalind.  
"somewhere safe. We have a plan, but it can always be better. She is going to make a suppressant for Diana, Rosalee we could really use your help there. Monroe, and Hank are going to dig up a body if that's okay with you?" Nick looked over at the flabbergasted Monroe as he finished.

"Dude! I mean, of course we'll help, but... Dude!" Monroe seemed to be having a hard time closing his mouth.

"Okay, I'll get stuff set up, but Nick, we're going to need a lot more explanation." Rosalee started clearing off the table where she usually made concoctions. Nick took the time to explain in detail, half way through Renard showed up with the things Adalind needed, derailing him with his heartfelt meeting of what was apparently his baby. They added about six more steps to their plan, including giving the baby to the royals, and taking it back to make them think the resistance took her, which Adalind did not like, and he would still have to talk to her to get her to cooperate. By the time they had the body it was well past dark.

"Once the royals contact Renard we'll get her back. We'll be on the plane. Nothing will happen to her, then you and my Mother will..." Adalind held a hand up, stopping his fourth attempt to convince her. Renard had gotten her to think about it, but she had to sell it, so he needed to know she was one hundred percent on board.

"Your mother? You're not the one getting us out of the city?" That had not been what he'd expected her to have a problem with there.

"Nick, can I talk to you?" Juliette poked her head in before he could answer, Adalind took his moment of distraction to stir the suppressant.

"Yeah, just a sec. No, look my disappearance would set off red flags. It's safer with my Mother." He took a step back towards Juliette, hoping it would end the conversation for now.

"Unless she decides to run off with my baby. You could use it to send them looking in another direction, just like with my APB. Renard could write up paperwork about you going undercover, or with a witness. It wouldn't even be hard. You would even get paid." The desperation had edged back into her voice. Nick frowned, she wasn't wrong, his mother still didn't agree with this plan.

"Nick!" Juliette pushed, he held a hand up for her to wait.

"Just, I'll talk to her." Nick left Adalind to stew with her concerns so he could talk to Juliette. She lead him out into the front room of the shop.

"I still don't think this is a good idea, even Renard agrees with your mother." She whispered , trying to usher him outside, Nick stood firmly by the door, unwilling to leave the building while his mother was still inside.

"We talked about this Juliette." Nick felt exhausted, he hadn't slept, and everyone except Monroe and Rosalee had given him shit about not wanting to separate a baby from it's mother. It wasn't like he'd stopped hating her, or they were sending her off alone.

"I just think it's wrong to raise a baby in the kind of danger having Adalind around will create." She couldn't, or wouldn't let this go. Nick had to wonder why she kept pushing, usually she took his side, even when she didn't understand.

"Do you not think our lives are safe enough to have kids?" She flinched, turning away from him slightly.

"That's not what I meant. Obviously things are crazy right now, but they'll even out eventually." She wrapped her arms around herself the same way Adalind had when she was scared to talk to him.

"Since I became a Grimm has it ever been calm enough for you to think about it? Now that you know my secrets would you accept that ring?" Nick looked her over, the way her whole body shifted away from him as he asked might as well have been a punch to the face.

"I don't think now is the right time, but you know I love you. That's not the point. This isn't about us Nick!" She tried to steer him back to the point she wanted to make. He found himself at a loss for words. He'd always assumed now that she knew it was just a matter of finding the right moment, but she still didn't want to marry him.

"Maybe it should be. My life is never going to even out. I'm a Grimm. If you don't want to marry me, have kids with me, make a future that will involve wesen, and burying bodies, and fighting for our lives sometimes you don't really want to be with me." He took a step away from her, she shook her head, reaching for him.

"I love you, you know that. I just... I miss our normal life Nick. I miss movie nights, and parties with our friends. I miss not being so afraid all the time. That's why I don't think you're right about Diana, she shouldn't have to grow up afraid." Juliette once again tried to steer him back towards the topic at hand. He nodded, pulling out of her grasp.

"She doesn't have a choice, and neither do I. You do though." Nick mumbled the last bit to himself, but the way she scowled assured him that she heard.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She huffed, but before he could answer Rosalee poked her head in.

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt, but the suppressant is done, and Bud is calling. I think we can get things started." She held the phone out to him, he walked away from Juliette.

"Bud, hey, what have you got for me?" Nick moved back into the side room, where Adalind screwed the cap on to a large mason jar of what looked like water.

"That sounds perfect. I'll leave the cash with Monroe, go ahead and get it, I'm going to text you two adresses, grab what's at the first one, and park it at the second. Thanks Bud. Yeah. I know, I really appreciate it. Yeah. Goodbye. " Nick hung up, tucking the phone into his pocket. 

"Is that it?" Nick raised a sceptical brow at the jar.

"I know, it looks like water right?" Monroe leaned forward to eye it.

"It won't taste like it. This should be enough to suppress her powers for maybe eight years if she doesn't build up any tolerance to it. We might have to make more if it comes to it, but I think if we ween her off of it her power should come back slow enough to teach her some real control. I just hope it doesn't stunt her powers. I guess being a little weaker is better than being dead, or a puppet for the royals. Have I mentioned how much I don't like this plan?" Adalind looked at him, he shrugged with a little tilt of his head.

"It's the best one we have. Rosalee, have you gotten the ID's, because theirs been a little bit of a change?" Nick looked around the room at the friends who changed his entire life. He had never once missed his normal life.

"That's no problem, write it down. I can go now. It only takes him a couple of hours. He's really good." Rosales handed him a pen, the rest seemed to go by in a blur. Once he'd made up his mind he hardly had a second to think about it.


	2. Starting Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick and Adalind struggle to get used to one another.

"I'm going. You need to stay, and clean up the people looking for them." Nick said while he and his mother drove towards the truck Bud had purchased for them. Adalind would be waiting for them there.

  
"What? I thought you were tied to this life, and to Juliette." She rocked the baby gently while he steered them down a service road.

  
"She doesn't want this life, not with a Grimm, and Adalind is right to be worried you'll disappear with her baby when she isn't looking. Officially Renard has me undercover in California." Nick pulled off the road, parking next to the truck which already had the trailer hooked up to it. He opened the glove box, hitting send on his goodbye text to Juliette before tossing it inside.

  
"You're sure this is what you want?" She let him take the baby, cradling her head as she moved between them in the low light of his dash.

  
"No, but it's what I have to do." He slid out, and Adalind ran out of the truck, she made it to him before he made it three steps.

  
"Is she okay?" Diana made a fussy little noise until he gave her to Adalind, she clutched her to her chest, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

  
"She's fine, exactly how you left her." Nick took the duffle bag out of the back, pulling out the ID's Rosalee had gotten them. Nick Kessler stared back at him from the pages of a Canadian passport. 

  
"Be safe." Kelly pulled him into a hug, he let his head lay against her shoulder for a moment, taking the last bit of comfort he would get for a long time.

  
"I'm trusting you to keep them safe." He pulled back, shouldering the duffle bag, she gave a Kurt nod, and he went towards the truck.

  
"You're coming with us? I thought you were sending us with your mother." She climbed into the truck, cooing down at Diana. 

  
"I was, things changed." He tossed the bag in the middle, pulling away. Silence stretched between them with the small noises Diana made the only sound. 

  
"Where are we going?" Adalind finally broke the silence to keep herself awake. They'd been driving for hours, and he could admit he could use something to keep him up as well.

  
"Virginia." He took an exit, they would need gas soon, and he needed coffee.

  
"Do we have a place, or are we just driving to the other side of the country to look for something?" Diana floated a pen out of the cup holder, reaching for it with her little hands.

  
"We're using an old WITSEC house. It's not fancy, but it's in a gated community, and we won't draw any attention." He pulled up to a pump, hoping the gas tank was on his side. She gave him a look of disbelief.

  
"A man living with a single mom, and her baby in a suburb. No way that will go unnoticed. Those people are worse than hexenbiest when it comes to image, manipulation, and gossip. We might as well advertise out location in the paper." She happily got out of the truck, and so she could put Diana in her car seat carrier.

  
"I know." He opened his duffle, tossing her ID on to her seat. He couldn't quite let go of the small velvet box however. He opened it, watching the harsh hue of the gas stations lights shine over the diamond ring. Juliette's ring. The ring she didn't want.

  
"Adalind Kessler? Like your aunt. Won't this make it easier to find us?

"She frowned, he snapped the box shut, throwing it to her.

  
"Nick, Adalind, and Diana Kessler. The identities have history, and a happy family won't come up on their radar. Keeping the first names is for us, people don't react properly to a fake name. We need to be as normal as possible. " He turned to fill up the tank. Adalind came around, her mouth hanging open as she looked at the ring.

  
"Nick! Are you proposing to me? At a run down gas station? How could I say no?" She seemed very amused by this, he didn't share that amusement. 

  
"It's the ring I bought for Juliette, she didn't want it. This isn't my idea, but it's the best way to keep Diana safe." He deadpanned, she set Diana down in her carrier to slip the ring on. She didn't look at him with pity the way most people did when he said it.

  
"Her loss. I need to change her. Is there a diaper bag in there? " She held her hand out, looking at the way it sparkled for a moment before lifting Diana again.

  
"In the trailer. Bud cleared the desk, it's not the ideal changing table, but there's a blanket in there to put over the table. Did you want anything?" He had taken all his money out, and tossed his cards, so they had quite a bit of cash.

  
"Something to eat would be nice. I'm not picky, just no rabbit." She went to the trailer, he waited until she was out of sight, letting his head thump against the truck. A pit in his stomach made it hard to breathe. What had he done? He loved Juliette! He had endured lying to her, showing her his world, her losing her memory, he even made it past her turning down his proposal, but hearing her tell him his life would never be enough after all of that had gutted him.

  
She wanted everything he did, just not with a Grimm. She thought his life was too dangerous for a family, maybe she would have changed her mind. Maybe they could have gotten past this too, but he had taken that chance away. Cut it's head off. He'd left for the greater good. It was all very Grimm of him. Too late to change his mind now.

  
He went inside, and got a couple sandwich, and tea options to go with his coffee. He also got a little stuffed Fox that he thought maybe Diana would like. It didn't have button eyes, or anything she could swallow. He went to the trailer, and found Adalind asleep in the little corner bed, Diana beside her in her carrier. Nick smiled, going over to look down at the tiny blonde girl, chewing on her fist. Her little blue eyes looked up at him with nothing but innocence.

  
He held up the little fox, shaking it gently. She reached up, her eyes turning violet as the Fox floated from his grip towards her. It danced over her in the air. He brushed his fingers over her downy soft hair, and she let the fox settle beside her.

  
"You let your Mom sleep." He whispered, going out to pull the truck into a parking spot, so they could sit, and get some sleep himself. He slept in the cab, but only for a couple of hours, so he decided to look at the new hexenbiest texts Bud had added to the trailer with Rosalee, and Monroe. It didn't all make sense, but he assumed it wasn't meant to. 

  
Diana started to get fussy, so he picked her up, rocking her back and forth to let Adalind sleep as long as she could. She hadn't gotten much more sleep than him lately, and probably less in the days leading up to his involvement. He sat, reading aloud to keep her occupied, careful not to read anything he didn't understand our to her.

  
"Diana! Diana?" Adalind shot up in panic, Nick hurried to get up, and bring her to her mother.

"She's right here. I didn't want to wake you." He moved her into her arms, it was an uncomfortable proximity, but it couldn't be helped.

  
"Thank you. I didn't mean to fall asleep. Hi, look at you, where did you get this cute little guy?" She softened her voice to coo at Diana, Nick got up, putting the books back where they could be secure for the drive.

  
"We should get back on the road." Nick held a sandwich out to her, she turned it to look at the ingredients before peeling it open to eat awkwardly with one hand. They made good time, he even let Adalind drive while he slept the next day. They would have made better time of she hadn't needed to stop and pee every two hours, but they pulled up to the gates of the community just before dark.

  
"ID's?" The little round man in the cubicle shined a light at them. He held out their new licenses, along with the deed to the house Hank had found them.

  
"Oh! We heard you were coming! Well, not you specifically, just that the house at the end had been sold! Is that your son? Wow, this is amazing news! Welcome to Howling oaks Mr. and Mrs. Kessler!" He waved them in, entering the code for the gate. Nick nodded, taking the ID's back, and driving in.

  
"That was charming. Have I told you how much I hate gated communities? We'll have to give Diana the suppressant tonight, because I can guarantee tomorrow we will have every nosy soccer mom, and their snot nosed kids bringing casserole, and poking into our business." Adalind reached back to hold the edge of Diana's carrier, despite trying to look annoyed he could see the worry etched in her features.

  
"It won't effect how long we have will it?" He looked at Diana in the rear view, she shook her head, turning to take in the quaint little split level with a two car garage.

  
"No, it should be okay. I planned to start soon, I just thought she might have a little more time. Do you need me to help you back that in?" She hitched her thumb back towards the trailer. He nodded, and she slid out to open the garage door. He had a clicker, but he let her set up a code. He backed into the driveway, trying to follow her waving hand gestures. He would not yell at her outside, in the middle of the night for being horrible at giving direction.

  
They went inside once the car was parked, they had only three bags between them. Inside was nice, if not a little plain. Adalind took Diana upstairs to see what they had for her room. Nick checked the kitchen first, there were dishes, but not many, and they were fairly simple; one pan, one kettle. They would definitely need more infant supplies down here, and there was no food. They had a couch, but no TV, and no dinner table. He made for the stairs, slowing when he saw Adalind glaring down at him.

  
"There's a cradle, but there's only one bed, and no toilet paper." She said, he sighed, bringing the bags up to see how bad it was. The bed, and cradle were old, and there wasn't even a dresser in the one room of three that actually had furniture.

  
"I can sleep in the trailer, we'll go pick up what we need tomorrow. As for the toilet paper, I think we'll have to use the wipes. He dropped the diaper bag, and her duffle keeping his on his shoulder. She grabbed his wrist when he went to leave.

  
"Aren't we supposed to be married? You should sleep up here, it's a big bed." She shifted uncomfortably, pulling her hand away to tuck it under her now crossed arms.

  
"I don't think anyone is going to break in to check out back story." He put his hand on the door knob.

  
"Wait! Fine, I'm scared okay. I don't want to stay up here alone. I know it's stupid, but every time I close my eyes I'm afraid she'll be gone." Adalind whispered the last bit, looking down at his shoes. He dropped his bag with a heavy sigh, and sat on the end of the bed to take off his boots. They got ready for bed in silence, forced to share the one working bathroom, and climbed into bed with Nick on the left.

  
"Thank you. I know you didn't do it for me, but thank you for not taking my baby from me." She said the words into the darkness of the quiet room. Nick looked over at her, still on edge at every groan of the old house, not yet familiar with it's noises. 

  
"I lost my Mom when I was twelve, and I got her back, but that doesn't make losing her any easier. I would never do that to Diana." He found the words easier in the dark than he had before. A small comfort to know she was there, but not have to see the way her eyes pinched in suspicion, or her mouth drew tight when he irritated her.

  
"Your mother would have. You gave up so much to keep her safe. More than Sean ever would." She tracked the little sliver of light that poured in from the street across the ceiling.

  
"I'm still not sure I made the right decision." He said, rolling his back to her, she watched him lay there until her eyes drifted closed. 

  
She woke up first, despite having woken twice to take care of Diana. Each time he had looked up at her briefly asking if she needed help in a mumble still heavy with sleep before she let him go back to sleep. They hadn't tangled up in the night like teenagers in a romcom, but they had relaxed enough that the slight touch of his hand, or the brush of her foot on his leg had gone unnoticed.

  
When he finally woke her side of the bed was cold, and Diana wasn't in the crib. He rolled out of bed, a brief moment of panic washing over him.

  
"Adalind?" He called out, rushing down the stairs to call for her again.

  
"In here! " She called from the kitchen. She had Diana in her carrier, humming softly to her while she scrubbed the counters.

  
"Hey, I would have made breakfast, but we don't actually have food, unless you count breast milk. I figured I could get started cleaning instead. The dishes were disgusting, and we will definitely need to get supplies for Diana at least. I don't actually know our budget, but I'm pretty good at that kind of stuff if you want me to look at it." She dropped the sponge into the bucket he suspected had been meant for washing a car.

  
"We don't have money coming in yet, but I have enough to get what we need. I start at the precinct next week, so we don't have to worry about saving. Mortgage payments won't start until the first of next year." Nick went over to Diana, tugging gently on the little booty she wore. She giggled, reaching up for him, but nothing floated around her.

  
"Oh, won't that draw attention to us? I'm pretty sure the royals can track your transfer." She washed her hands so she could join him next to Diana.

  
"No. Nick Kessler transferred from Chicago. I didn't have time to set you up with a job, so I hope you like being a stay at home mom." He took a step back, letting her pick up Diana, turning away when she lifted her shirt to breast fees her.

  
"I don't mind for now, but I don't know if I can sit idle for the next eighteen years." She made a little noise of distaste.

  
"Will you get the diaper bag? Do we have a washing machine, I think her onesy is going to need to be cleaned?" She pointed to the bag already at the bottom of the stairs where she'd set it earlier.

  
"We do, but we should probably get her a few more. I can change her, you deal with the onesy." Nick laid the blanket out on the slightly damp island, she set Diana in just the diaper on the blanket, wiping off her back before laying her down.

"Do you actually know how to do that?" She hooked the trash bag she'd found with her foot, kicking it towards him.

  
"I've had to do it at work before, they didn't complain." He smiled down at Diana, leaning down to boop her nose with his own. She giggled, reaching up for his face.

"Make sure to wipe front to back, she's a lady after all." Adalind called over her shoulder, he gagged at the smell of being too close to her dirty diaper.

"Oof! You're a stinky lady, aren't you? Mommy's gonna have to clean the blanket too, won't she?" His voice only went up half an octive, it could hardly be considered a baby voice, but for some reason a choked little sob escaped Adilind behind him.

  
"You okay?" He turned in time to see Adalind retreat towards the hall with the laundry room. He frowned, pulling out another wipe.

  
"Your mom is crazy, did you know that?" He finished cleaning her up, and secured a new diaper before he went in search of Adalind. He found her with her knees pulled up to her chest, crying into her arms. She sat on the floor with her back against the running drier, so she didn't hear him coming.

  
"Adalind?" He spoke softly, but it didn't lessen her reaction. She jumped, wiping her face on her arms despite the tears that still fell.

  
"I'm sorry. This is so stupid, I'm sorry. Did you want to go get groceries, and maybe some furniture, because this place is barren?" She scrambled to her feet, trying to pretend she wasn't still crying.

  
"Okay. You want to take Diana, I'll pack up the diaper bag." He offered, she nodded, scooping up Diana from his arms, and hiding her face in her tiny form. Nick let her have a moment, and when she composed herself they got Diana dressed, and into her carrier.

  
"If this is postpartum, or something you need to tell me. I can help, but only if you tell me how." He said once they were on the road, and he didn't have to look at her, she laughed, just a little puff of self-depreciating amusement.

  
"No, it's just hormones. I'm fine, the doctor said this would happen, I just didn't realize being happy could turn me into a big blubbering mess. My mother would be disgusted with me right now. " She kept her eyes on the road around them, leaning over only to watch him enter the code for the gate.

  
"Your mother was a manipulative witch, literally." He headed towards the shopping centers, tapping his new burner phone to find the nearest place that would have all the stores they needed.

  
"Ha! Yeah she was, but she was my Mother. Sometimes... I worry I'm going to be like her with Diana. I don't ever want to make her feel like that." Adalind looked back at where she sat, happily chewing on her fist.

  
"You won't." Nick parked as close as he could, slipping out of theo truck before she could respond. She looked up at the roof, blinking back tears. He really needed to stop saying things like that. How could she keep hating him if he acted like this?

  
"We need a new mattress too. That one has at least two broken springs that kept stabbing me in the side." Adalind looked at the big box store, where they could hopefully get most of what they were looking for in one stop.

  
"Fine." He didn't mention that it had a huge dip in his side that has left him with a crick in his neck, but if she wanted a new one he wouldn't argue about it.

  
"Really? How loaded are we?" She tucked the carrier into a cart, and Nick took an empty cart for himself.

  
"We have enough, we're not loaded." He lead them over towards the furniture. They went through buying a changing table, and all the other baby related things they would need, their cart already getting fairly full. She kept things reasonably priced, just to be safe, they needed quite a lot.

  
"We're running out of space. I like the fox and wolf theme we've apparently decided on though." She teased, holding up a sippy cup with dancing fox on it.

  
"We can have the rest sent up front." He reached over to give Diana a much fluffier fox plush. She held it briefly, tossing it out of the carrier.

  
"I think she likes the cheap one better." She laughed, setting the plush back on the shelf, he shrugged, heading towards the beds.

  
"She's already rebelling against your taste." He smirked, she swatted his shoulder, scowling without much heat.

  
"Aw! Look at this little guy! They're so cute!" A woman with well styled curls, and a tacky pink velvet jacket leaned in to pinch Diana's cheeks without so much as looking at them.

  
"Hey!" Adalind slapped her hands away, jerking the cart back behind her. "Don't touch my baby." She bristled, the woman looked at her in disgust.

  
"I was only being friendly." She crossed her arms, Nick shifted between them, pushing Adalind forward with a hand on the small of her back.

  
"Be friendly without touching! " She called back, Nick kept her moving until they were in the mattress section, and well away from the woman.

  
"Did you see that? She was going to take Diana!" Adalind looked frantic, Nick put his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him.

  
"Adalind, calm down. She was just a little overly friendly. No one is taking Diana from you. You can't slap everyone who thinks she's cute." He tried to keep his voice calm, because her melting down in a box store was not the kind of attention they needed.

  
"I can, and I will. She tried to touch her. Do you have any idea how many curses only need one touch? Would you rather I cursed her with festering boils?" Her worry hardened to anger, he shook his head.

  
"I'm not saying you can't stop them, I just need you not to cause a scene. We're laying low remember?" He let go of her when her ire drained, leaving her looking a bit sheepish.

  
"Fine. Let's find a bed, and get out of here." Adalind relented with a petulant huff, Nick looked down at Diana, making a face as if she could sympathize.

  
"Come on Diana, let's try them out." He lifted her out of her carrier, flipping back into the nearest bed with her up in the air. She giggled, wiggling in his arms. Adalind stood stunned for a minute, just watching them.

  
"You coming? It's your bed too." He looked around Diana at her, she dropped down beside him, squirming around to try and get comfortable.

  
"Ugh, it's too bouncy." She said, he turned bouncing Diana gently between them.

  
"Some of us like bouncy." He teased, she scooped her up, getting out of the bed with her.

  
"Stop being a goof." She meant it to be biting, but the stupid smile on her face made that a little difficult.

  
"How about this one?" She laid back on one of the other beds. Nick popped up, and joined her in the next bed.

  
"Too soft. " He vetoed immediately, she rolled her eyes going with him to the next one.

  
"I like this one." He rolled on to his side, she made a face at him.

  
"Really, this is what you think is comfortable? You might as well be sleeping on the floor." He groaned, going to the next one. They tried four more before they settled on one, luckily picking out the other furnishings went faster. They got a few groceries, and headed went to check out.

  
"You're baby is so cute. Are you her uncle?" The cashier grinned, openly flirting with Nick while she rang them up.

  
"Her father actually, honey, did we remember to get TP?" Adalind looked over the cart while she slid her arm around his waist like it belonged. Nick tensed, clenching his jaw to keep from breaking their cover.

  
"I don't think so. I'll run and grab some." Nick rushed off in hopes of escaping the uncomfortable small talk. 

  
"You're a lucky lady, he is dreamy." The cashier turned to watch him go, an unwelcome flare of jealousy hit her. She didn't want people eyeing him, not because she wanted him, she still hated him, obviously, but because it could jeopardize their cover.

  
"You have no idea." She focused on Diana, trying to remember what Nick said about not causing a scene.

  
"Here we go. I think that's everything now." Nick came back with the tp, and paid in cash. One of the employees helped load everything into the truck, and they got back on the road.

  
"Where is your ring? Aren't we supposed to be married?" She looked at his hand, he followed her gaze, realizing he didn't have it on.

  
"Oh, check the glove box, Monroe said he threw something in here for me. I forgot to even look." Nick reached over at the light, and opened it. Adalind rummaged through the papers until she found a small wooden box.

  
"Does Monroe own anything less than a hundred years old?" Adalind held up the box, Nick snorted, turning down their street.

  
"Only if Rosales bought it. How bad is it? " He looked over when she opened it, she pulled out a simple silver band with a swirling symbol carved into it.

  
"A triskelion representing the forward motion to reach understanding. That's actually kind of nice. At least it's the spiral version, and not made out of legs. What? The Greek version is legs, and it's gross. Lots of rituals require three human legs to form the symbol." She bristled when he made a face at her.

  
"I don't want to know." He leaned out the window to enter the code while she twisted the ring in her fingers.

  
"Is this silver?" Adalind held a hand out, and Nick gave her his left one so she could slide the ring on.

  
"Probably, Monroe said he couldn't wear it because it irritated his skin, I guess it could be nickle." Nick pulled into the garage, careful to make sure the mattress fit through the door.

  
"If it is silver I could put a charm on it, one to hide your eyes. If we're trying to hide here it would probably go a long way if no one knew you were a Grimm. We should have everything we need in the trailer. I actually have a lot that I want to do to keep us safe, but that is probably the first thing we should take care of." Adalind turned to get Diana out, Nick came around to help her, and empty the groceries out of the back seat.

  
"Would that just hide my eyes, or would it stop my Grimm sight?" Nick nudged the door open with his foot, letting Adalind go through first.

  
"I don't think so, but we would obviously test it. Do you need help with anything other than the mattress?" She set Diana down on the island so she could put the groceries away. Before he could answer someone knocked on their front door.

  
"I shouldn't, and we can try it if you think it will help." He held up a hand to table the conversation so he could answer the door.

  
"Hello?" He pulled the curtain back on the window of the door to see a pair of fairly normal looking people on his doorstep before he opened it.

  
"Hi! I'm Lena, and this is my husband Derek Crowe we just thought we'd stop by, and welcome you to the neighborhood. I know you'll be getting a lot of this, but I wanted to at least attempt to give you a good impression before Karen gets her claws in you. She's the reason the last couple moved out." The stalky brunette said with a little wave, her husband, Derek apparently, had his arm around her, his thin height a stark contrast to her.

  
"Oh, well, nice to meet you, I think. Did you want to come in? We don't have much set up yet, but I'm pretty sure we could manage a cup of coffee." He stood back to let them inside, he liked the set up for the front entry way, it funnled people in nicely.


	3. Cover Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A good cover is vital.

"Nick? Who is it?" Adalind looked up as they came in, she plastered on a bright smile for the pair.

"Our neighbors. This is Lena, and Derek Crowe, they came to warn us about a woman named Karen who apparently is the reason the family before us moved." Nick moved to stand beside her, attempting to look like a loving husband. 

"On no! I told you gated communities always have one. Did you want some coffee, I was just about to set up the coffee maker?" Adalind nodded towards the truck since they hadn't unloaded the coffee maker yet.

"How about I help unload whatever you need, while these two gossip about Karen, and the other drama here?" Derek offered, clearly not keen on sitting and listening to them chat. Nick sagged in relief, playing the good husband with Adalind made him tense.

"That would be amazing actually. I'll start with the coffee maker." Nick lead Derek into the garage. There was quite a bit strapped down in the back.

"Starting over hu?" He smirked over at Nick, he dropped the tailgate with a shrug.  
"We were trying to get away from our drama. I hope we didn't just find more." Nick grabbed the coffee maker, watching Derek for his reaction.

"Lena likes to make things sound more exciting than they are. Karen is a busy body, and head of the Home Owner's Association, she thinks this house is an eye sore that's all." Derek pulled the changing table out of the back, following Nick back inside. between the two of them they made quick work of unloading things. He even liked Derek, he was quiet, but witty.

"Look at you two, strapping sweaty men, come sit, you have to be about done." Lena waved at Derek, he looked at Nick to see if they were actually finished. He nodded, going with him. Derek took the only spot open on the couch, so Nick sat on the arm beside Adalind, putting his hand on the back.

"Okay, so now that you know every sorted detail about Howling Oaks, how did you two meet?" Lena leaned into Derek's side, hooking her arm through his. Adalind put her hand on Nick's leg, he tensed, but did his best not to grimace.

"Oh, Nick is my knight in shining armour. He saved my life." She grinned up at him, he rolled his eyes.

"I'm a cop, I was only doing my job. I just couldn't get rid of her." He squeezed her shoulder, painfully hard, she in turn dug her nails into his thigh.

"Please, you were obsessed with me. It was cute." She bounced up on her knees, and pecked his lips. He jerked back, getting to his feet, struggling not to look like he was running away.

"I could use some of that coffee." He choked out, jerking his head towards the kitchen. Adalind rolled her eyes, but got up to go with him. As soon as they were out of sight Nick shoved her back towards the island.

"What the hell was that?" He hissed, she gave him a sweet smile, hopping up to sit on the counter.

"Why Nick, I have no idea what you mean sweety. I'm just being a loving wife. You're the one who made this our cover. Did you think we were going to get through this without a little uncomfortable closeness?" She hooked a leg around his, tugging him closer. He braced his arms on either side of her.

"Stop! This is not a game Adalind, I'm not here because I want to be playing house with you. Don't do that again." He snarled, she scoffed giving him a sassy little smirk.

"It was hardly a peck you big baby. Do you really think we can fake a marriage without touching?" She looked over his shoulder, his head tilted at the sound of one of them coming to the kitchen. He snaked forward kissing her hard, fisting his hand in her hair rougher than would be considered intimate. She moaned, deepening the kiss. Nick pulled back, his expression twisted in anger at the entire situation.

"Oh! Sorry. I just wanted to let you know we had to head out. It was really nice to meet you. We'll see you around. Sorry." Derek backed out, stopping Lena from following them. Nick's frown deepened, he hadn't heard her coming. He was going soft, he had to remember as disgustingly domestic as this new life felt he was here to keep Diana safe.

"Don't do it again. Ever!" He shoved away from her, she chuckled, slipping off the counter to check on Diana.

"Are you regretting coming with me already?" She said while she rocked her back and forth. Nick gave her a look over his coffee.

"What do you think?" He opened the fridge to pull out enough to make himself a sandwich, slicing things fresh. 

"Nick... Alright, I'm sorry. We can't be at each other's throats all of the time, not if we're going to keep Diana safe. I know I've done a lot of bad stuff, but so have you. Please don't hate me, for her sake, we can't be like we were." She came back to stand opposite of him across the island, he needed to see that she was serious.

"I know." He loosed a long suffering sigh, looking at her with Diana in her arms, and the freshly furnished dining room behind her she almost looked normal. This house with the hardwood table, and the worn leather couch could belong to any family. The layout may be different, and he certainly hadn't had a basement before, but this house felt an awful lot like the one he had shared with Juliette.

"Did you want one?" He focused on his sandwiches instead, dwelling on his problems wouldn't change the decision he made.

"No tomatoes for me. I'm allergic." She smiled, looking every bit as awkward as he felt.

"Anything else you're allergic too? I should probably know." He set a plate on her side of the island. She set Diana back in her carrier to eat.

"No, just raw tomatoes. I can eat them cooked though. I actually make a pretty good bolognese sauce." She took a bite of the sandwich, moaning very much like she had when he pulled her hair. Oh good, that memory was to torture him forever.

"I like bolognese." He popped a slice of tomato into his mouth, she'd have to stay off him if he tasted of tomato.

"I actually make a pretty mean chicken parmesan, it's one of maybe three things I can cook." He put everything back in the fridge, leaning against the counter to eat.

"That's not good, because I don't have a ton of recipes in my repertoire. My Mom didn't exactly teach me how to make a lot of things you'd want to eat." She idly rocked the carrier while she ate it.

"Aunt Marie was more of a TV dinner kind of person." Nick sipped at his coffee, he hadn't realized how hungry he was until he'd started eating.

"I taught myself most of what I know, a kid can only eat so much pizza. I can bake though." She rounded the counter to wash her plate, she held a hand out for Nick's.

"I know plenty of kids who would disagree." Nick set his mug down in the sink, brushing his hands off on his jeans.

"Where are you going?" She looked up, a hint of panic in her voice.

"I want to check out the yard, it butts up against a national forest, the other side of our fence should lead into the woods. I want to know all the exits." He pulled a jacket on, leaving her to explore the back of the house. The basement was empty, with an awful shag carpet, but no windows, or exits. The back door had a hall leading to it as well, which made defending the house easier, though there were a few too many windows for his liking.

The back yard had a raised garden along the left side, flowers were overgrown with weeds, and the grass had gotten long. Despite all that it had a quiet sort of beauty. Ivy tangled up the small shed, and a wall of trees created a backdrop of lush green. He went to the shed first, pulling in the door. It stuck, chained shut. The chain looked old, too old for this house.

He went to the fence, checking it for any weak points. The wooden privacy fence leaned against tall brick wall that rounded the community. He grabbed the top, hoisting himself up, and using the privacy fence to get up on the brick wall. He jumped down easy enough, turning to see if there was anywhere he could use to get back up.

The verdant underbrush made it hard to maneuver, and the trees were far enough back that they couldn't easily be used to scale the fence. He climbed up the closest one anyway. One of the branches went out far enough for him to make the jump to the top of the wall, but most people, even hundjäger would have trouble with it. He'd have to put a camera on the back though. It wasn't impossible to get over. He went back towards the house to get something for the chain.

"How's it look?" Adalind had all of their mixing bowls out, which to be fair was only three, and the kitchen stunk like ammonia, and death. She had a huge book open to her left.

"Not bad considering. There's a garden back there, and a shed locked up, maybe since before WITSEC got a hold of the house. How are you with locks?" He brushed his jacket off, earning a frown from Adalind.

"Really good actually. Watch her, I'll grab my skeleton keys." She washed her hands off, drying them before going out to get them from the trailer.

"Why does it stink in here?" Nick asked when she came back holding a string of human bone, which worried him, but not enough to mention.

"I'm working on the charm for your ring, obviously. It doesn't exactly take rose oil, and cotton candy. The ring shouldn't smell if that's what you're worried about." She hooked an arm around the handle of the carrier, gesturing for him to lead the way.

"That is not what I'm worried about. If people are going to be poking their nose in our business our kitchen probably shouldn't smell like a morgue." Nick took her out to the shed. She handed Diana off to him, wogeing. 

"Point taken." The bone she held cracked, and shivered until it turned into a key. She used it on the old rusted lock. It snapped open like new.

"That's handy." He couldn't take his eyes off the brittle skin of her hand wrapped around the key of blood and bone. He'd never gotten a chance to just examine a hexenbiest without worrying they would strike. Her's looked better than the captain's.

"You don't suppose there's a lawn mower in there do you, because this is a little much?" Her features melted back to the soft skin, and golden hair she normally wore.

"I'll be happy as long as nothing is dead in there. My luck with locked doors isn't great." She stood back while he pulled the chain free. The doors kicked up dust as he pulled them open, but inside turned out to be disappointingly normal. A few old garden tools hung on the far wall, and a heavy wooden work table took up most of the right side, but nothing else.

"Hu, I guess it really is just a shed." Nick bent to pick up the chain, she looked at him like he was crazy.

"You don't see it? " She pointed to the right side, he leaned in to examine the dirt floor, but nothing seemed out of place.

"No, what is it?" He took Diana, setting her carrier on the work table. Adalind woged again, crouching down to grab something he couldn't see. She pulled, and a door creaked open from the floor. Once it was open it seemed impossible to have missed it.

"This is hexenbiest magic, no wonder the government ended up with the house. No one wants to live in a hexenbiest lair, apparently we fill places with malice, which seems unfair. Maybe she had a lab, or an apothecary, whatever you want to call it." Adalind nearly ran down the metal stairs, into the dark. 

"Adalind! You don't even have a light!" Nick turned the light on his phone on, rushing after her. The beam from his flash cut through the dark, catching motes of dust floating in the air with their disturbance.

"Oh my God! Oh my God, Nick, this is huge! This is definitely a lab! Look at these books, and these herbs. I can do so much more to protect my baby from down here." A soft flickering light filled the room as Adalind held her arms out. Yellowed candles blazed to life, illuminating walls of shelves wrapped around a large table with vials, mortars, and complicated, but very old, delicate lab equipment.

"Good, you won't have to stink up our kitchen." Nick went to look at the doctor Frankenstein like lab set up. 

"These are old, whoever lived her certainly didn't move out. If they left all this behind my guess is they're dead. No one has seen this book in two hundred years. My Mom would lose her mind if she saw this. I've never been as good at all of this as she was." Adalind pulled out one of the books flipping open the heavy yellow leather. Nick peered over her shoulders at the jumble of letters inside.

"Why were you the one trying to kill my aunt Marie, and Hank if your mother had more skill?" Nick said while she closed the book shaking it like an etch-a-sketch, when she opened it again the letters fell into place.

"I asked the same question, except I was in love with Renard, and my Mother needed my help. How was I supposed to know they just wanted a buffer between them, and you? My Mom disowned me when I lost my powers, and Renard couldn't even look at me, I was scared, and alone. I thought... It doesn't matter, the point is I made a lot of mistakes. " She paused when they heard Diana cry.

"She's probably hungry. Give me the ring." She pushed past him to climb the stairs quickly , he had to chase after her to do as she asked.

"I didn't know that." Nick felt, not for the first time, a pang of guilt for taking her powers. He could still remember the devastated look on her face, the way she drew into herself like a fragile, helpless thing. His guilt has always been tempered by unyielding hate for her, but now he found it hard not to see just how much like everyone else she was.

"Of course not, I don't exactly advertise my weaknesses to the guy trying to kill me." She swivled gently while she let Diana eat. He picked up the carrier so they could head back to the house. She set Diana in the little nest of blankets she'd made at the edge of the living room so she could see her from the kitchen.

"So what do I have to do for this?" Nick made a face at the simmering pot on the stove. She poured the contents of the mixing bowls in, which let out a stench that made Nick gag.

"We just need a little blood." She held up a long pin with a curled head, the metal looked old, even tarnished, but it still shone in the harsh light of the kitchen.

"Why is it always blood?" Nick held his hand out, and she pricked his finger, squeezing the blood into the pot. He turned to look at Diana for something to take his mind if the slight pain, and she rolled into her stomach, wriggling up to crawl towards him.

"Wow! That's not normal, is it?" Nick found himself rushing over to pick her up before she could crawl away.

"No, but it's not that surprising. Hexenbiest children develop faster, not usually this fast, but the suppressant should slow it down. She isn't aging faster necessarily, just developing faster, which is why we're so bratty as kids." She frowned, but kept her focus on the mixture, she had to trust Nick with her, or she would lose her mind.

"How do we know how old she is developmentally? Aren't you supposed to change their food, and other things when they get older?" Nick bounced her on his hip, and she gripped at his shirt, trying to put it in her mouth. Nick tutted, his shirt was not clean enough for that for sure.

"I don't really know, I've never done this before. I guess we'll have to go by milestones, crawling is six months isn't it?" She put the ring on a spoon, dipping it into the mix when the skull disappeared.

"It's definitely not a month and a half milestone." Nick lifted her up, and swooped her back down, making her giggle.

"Careful! Put her down, I need to finish this before the mixture cools." She picked the ring off the spoon, dropping it back when it prooved too hot. He set her back in the little nest, watching her skeptically while he went back to the kitchen.

"Do I just put it on?" He raised a petulant brow at the vaguely blood coloured mixture clinging to the metal of the ring.

"No, come on Nick, we both know it's never that simple. Hold your hand out." She floated the ring with her power, slipping it into his finger. She dipped her own in the mixture on the spoon.

"Close your eyes." She held up two fingers covered in red liquid , he grimaced, but closed them as requested. The mixture smeared, sticky on his skin, still hot as it clung to his eyelashes.

"That still stinks, ah, it burns!" Nick reached up to wipe at his eyes, Adalind grabbed his wrists to stop him.

"It's supposed to. You have to let it absorb." He found his head pressed against her shoulder to keep himself from trying to clean his eyes.

"If I'm blind I'm going to wring your neck." He growled, she chuckled, patting his back.

"You'll be find you big baby." She took his head in her hands, wiping the excess off with her thumbs. He blinked, his vision blurry, his eyes stinging, but after a second he could see her clearly. They were close enough for him to pick out the lash that had fallen to her cheek.

"Well? Can you see?" He nodded, she woged. "Can you see this?" Her voice distorted, and her jaw cracking. He looked into her milky grey eyes, and nodded again.

"I can't see you, your eyes I mean. It worked." She smiled, he grinned, crouching down to look at his reflection in the pot.

"Really? Maybe there won't even be horrifying side effects this time." He turned his head, looking at every angle. Adalind scoffed, taking the bowls to the sink.

"I should hope not, most of these spells don't. We're not playing with blood magic, or curses." She carefully washed each dish, rinsing them twice before setting them in the strainer. He wiped down the counters, trying to get the smell out of the kitchen. Someone knocked on the door.

"Open a window in here, I'll get the door." He tossed the rag back at the sink, and went to see who it was this time. He furrowed his brows at the woman outside with a saran wrapped casserole dish. It was the woman from the store that Adalind had slapped.

"Hello! I'm Karen, welcome to Howling Oaks, we... Oh, it's you." Her features twisted into a grey beak, her eyes turned black, and grey feathers that looked almost green when the caught the light. Talk about good timing.

"Hey, I'm sorry, can I help you?" He tried to be polite, but he certainly didn't want to let her inside. Her being here could be a coincidence, but he didn't believe in those. 

"I suppose I should apologize for my behavior in the store. I know motherhood can be stressful, and I didn't mean to over step. I'm the head of the home owners association, so it's my job to greet everyone who moved in." She held the casserole dish out to him, he took it, wary of her intentions.

"Thank you, Adalind had been under a lot of stress with the baby, and the move." At least he didn't have to lie, he had no idea how she was coping with the stress so well.

"Of course. I should let you know that privacy fence is over regulation. You have a nice day." She left, the fence was the exact same height as his neighbors.

"Who was that? Ah, the first of the casseroles." She took it from him, Diana in her other arm. He hung up his coat, frowning after the dish.

"I don't know if we should eat that. That was Karen, who apparently is the same woman from the store." Nick put his foot down on the lever for the trash, Adalind happily dumped it in, setting the dish in the sink.

"I don't like that she's here Nick. What if she's watching us?" She wrapped her other arm around Diana. Nick nodded, putting his hand on her little shoulders.

"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, or Diana. She was wesen though, I don't know what kind. She sort of looked like a pigeon." He washed out the dish so they could get it back to her, he didn't want trouble if he could help it.

"That sounds like a wütende tabue, they're sort of pigeon like. They are flock wesen, so keep an eye out for more of them. Usually they're gossips, they like to know things, and trade information. If they're violent though they can get really scary. They're not super dangerous alone, but there's usually half a dozen of them or more. My Mom cursed an entire flock once for telling someone something she didn't want them to know." Adalind looked out the window to watch where she went. At least her house was farther down.

"Just what we need, a flock of wesen rat birds in our business." Nick dried his hands off, joining her by the window. The street they lived on hedged the community at the far corner, so they had a decent view up the street, and the neighbors were angled up and away from the house. 

"Wow Nick, not a big pigeon fan?" She teased, he groaned, closing the blinds. Even closed the curtains let in a nice soft light that made the room feel warmer.

"I hate pigeons, my aunt Marie took me to New York when my parents died, and they ate my hot dog. They aren't afraid of people, and the shit on everything." He tugged at his shirt, all the sweat from moving, and the grime from exploring made it stick to his skin.

"I'll write it down so you can see if they're in the books. I don't like feeling helpless. That being said, I'd like you to stay with us again tonight. It's just, I like knowing you'll kill whatever walks through that door." She hurried to finish speaking when she saw the doubt creep across his features. He nodded, taking the paper to go look through his books. 

By the time he came back in she had Diana down for the night, he grabbed his sweats out of the drawer he'd only just set up. It was one of only three sets of pants he even had. They'd have to fix that soon. He decided against a shirt, he only had so many of those too. The pale blue of the bathroom tile made the room bright, and the soft towels Adalind had chosen accented the room well.  
He stripped down, tossing his clothes in the hamper. Adalind had chosen that too. He could admit she had good taste. He turned on the water, testing the temperature before he got in. The water pressure was good, if he got the pipes fixed for the other bathroom he might even be able to get a modicum of privacy.

The steaming water washed the filth of the day off his skin, and he realized he still had the ring on. He didn't actually know if he could take it off, or if the charm would break. He couldn't stop looking at it. The silver band broke the line of his hand, snug in the slight indent above his knuckle. It felt right there, he hardly even noticed it.

Would it have felt like that if Juliette had accepted? Would they be married by now, would they have a kid? How different would his life be if she had accepted who he was? He let his head hit the cold tile. He missed her, but he didn't miss putting her in danger.

He dried off, and padded, barefoot back to their bedroom. He paused in the darkness of their door. Just last week he'd shared a bed with Juliette, he'd slept in the same bed for six years. He set his side arm on the bedside table, and slid into bed. It didn't feel as odd as it should, worse, the bed was so much more comfortable.

Adalind woke up, but she couldn't hear Diana crying. She looked towards the door to try and figure out what had woken her. Beside her Nick jerked, his hands fisted in the blanket. He muttered, harsh, unintelligible words under his breath. She slid her hand gently over his chest, hoping to sooth whatever nightmare plagued him.

"Juliette." That one she understood. He settled as the warmth of the hand worked against his bare skin, short hair rough under the softness of her touch. She pulled back, turning her back to him. They hated each other. She hated him. Even if he saved her. She curled in on herself, trying to go back to sleep.

Nick woke up alone, again. He didn't like it. He went downstairs without even finding a shirt, except she wasn't there either.

"Adalind!" He yelled, this woman was bad for his heart. He checked each room, and even looked in the basement . Panic had started to grip him in earnest when he couldn't find her. He went outside, his side arm in hand.

"Adalind!" He knew his volume was getting too loud, the neighbors would hear soon, but it didn't matter if she was gone. He scrambled to find the handle to the lab, throwing it open.

"Adalind!" He took the steps two at a time.

"Nick? What's wrong?" She had Diana rocking safely in her carrier with her power while she still over a cauldron in her woge . He'd never been so relieved to see her like that. Nick lowered his weapon, looking up at the rafters of the room.

"You weren't in the house. I thought... Just leave a note of you're going to come down here while I'm asleep." He turned to leave her to it, she watched him go with a little tilt of her head. She waved her hand to put out the burner on the spell to scramble their address, and contact information. She cleaned up, and followed after him.

"Hey, breakfast?" He slid a plate across the island with scrambled eggs, hash browns, and toast. He hadn't gotten bacon.

"Oh, thank you." She set Diana down in the little play area she'd set up with her little plush toys. She wanted to get some educational toys soon.

"We should get out backstory straight. We were lucky no one asked too many questions yesterday." Nick sat at their new table, watching Diana play. Adalind sat across from him, happily mixing her hash browns with her eggs to put on her toast.

"Sure. Where should we start. Mm, this is actually pretty good." She spoke around a mouth full of food. He huffed in amusement, he'd expected her to be a bit more refined.

"The beginning is covered I suppose. We should stay as close to the truth as possible. We met in the case where I saved your life." He said, humming in concern, and pointing his fork back at the play pen where Diana had thrown a toy out, and looked to be in the verge of a fit. Adalind turned, using her powers to return it to her.

"How did we start dating? Did I still date Hank? What about Juliette?" She turned back once she knew Diana had calmed down.

"I'd say yes to Hank, but he didn't want anything serious. Juliette... She's too complicated. I have no idea how we could have gotten together. I guess I probably asked you out." He scowled at his eggs as if they would have the answer.

"Please, it has to be better than that. Our meet cute involves you literally saving my life. How about Juliette happened, but when she got sick, and kicked you out I offered to help with the legal part of splitting up the house. Things escalated from there, it's hard to pin down when it went from meeting for legal work, to meeting for drinks, but after a couple weeks you kissed me. You ended up staying with me more often than your little bachelor apartment, so we decided to just get rid of it." She puffed up, clearly proud of her convincing cover story.

"Sure, whatever. I took you to a cabin, Whispering Pines, to propose, by the fireplace after a romantic weekend. The weekend was a disaster , I ended up in the middle of an attempted murder case with the abusive husband who lived across from the cabin, but you said yes." He got up, unable to look at her when he said it. The memory still stung. Juliette had her reasons, but he couldn't imagine how different things would be if she'd said yes.

"Wait a minute. That's definitely a real story. Did you try and propose to Juliette that way?" She chased him to the kitchen with her own dishes. He stayed silent, hoping she would drop it.

"You did didn't you? Did she say yes? Oh God, I didn't break an engagement did I?" She actually looked a little horrified, he took her plate, spraying it off.

"No, she said she couldn't marry me while I was keeping secrets. I didn't try to tell her about being a Grimm until you came after her." He gave her his best 'are you happy now?' look. She had the good grace to walk away from him to check on Diana.

"Where was the wedding? Obviously we don't have a lot of family to invite. I don't actually have friends either, but I feel like we could probably leave that out." She leaned over to play with Diana, and Nick found himself looking at the way her yoga pants hugged her ass. He looked away quickly, back at the dishes. Evil people shouldn't be allowed to be so attractive.

"The courthouse probably. I'm a cop, you're a lawyer we went down on one of our rare days off together because we couldn't wait. Monroe, and Rosalee were out witnesses. Our honeymoon was two days in California. We stayed in a villa, and drank obscene amounts of wine." He started putting the dishes away, a small frown creasing his brow when he realized how sparse their cupboards still were.

"Please tell me that was not where you were planning to go with Juliette?" She shot him a look over her shoulder. 

"What? She likes wine!" He felt oddly defensive of his honeymoon plans despite the fact that he would never get to go through with them.

"So do I, but I also want more than a weekend for a honeymoon. It's not a day trip! How about we went skiing in the Swiss Alps?" She liked skiing, and coming in from the cold to sit by a warm fire was always romantic.

"I don't know how to ski." He came to kneel beside the play pen, picking up a toy to dance it around for Diana.

"All the better. You took me because you know I like it, then you nearly broke your arm, twice before I took pity on you, and we spent most of the week having crazy sex in the chalet, and drinking got cocoa." She nudged him with her elbow, he narrowed his gaze at her.

"Fine, we moved so you could stay at home with Diana. Now let's talk about the touching, because I don't want that happening again." Nick stood back up, he didn't love the idea of having to touch her at all.

"Well you're obviously not a big fan of kissing, but we can't forgo it all together. We're supposed to be married." She lifted Diana as she started to fuss, sniffing her. She made a face, nodding for him to follow her up to the changing table.

"Just not the lips, it's not unreasonable for us not to like PDA, also, no more grabbing my thigh, knee or bellow. Got it?" He followed her up the stairs, she scoffed, setting Diana down, she would need new clothes soon with how fast she grew.

"Fine. You are such a prude. No more hair pulling for you then. I like it way too much to let you do it." She emphasized the you with all the venom she could muster, he swallowed hard, trying to forget the taste of her moaning into his kiss.

"Fine. I'm going to go out, and get a surveillance system, you should make a list of things we still need, you have my new number, text me anything you think of." He grabbed a shirt, and dropped down on the bed to get his shoes on.

"You're leaving?" She stopped what she was doing to look back at him. He shrugged, he didn't like it either, but he wanted to get some things from around town, and lugging her, and Diana around would make it take all day. He still needed to be able to install it today.

"I won't be long, but I need to set up our bank account, pick up what we'll need for a six month old, get the system, and install it today. No offense to Diana, but she doesn't exactly travel well. You have my number, if you feel uncomfortable you can go down to the lab." He put his hands on his hips when he stood up.

"Fine, I will spend the day doing things to actually protect my baby." She huffed, he shook his head, grabbing the keys.

"Lock the doors." He called back, taking the stairs quickly. He didn't even make it out of the driveway before he had a text for new larger diapers, and new foods for Diana.


	4. HOA's and Violence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The joy of a gated community, and being married to a vindictive lawyer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where most of the violence happens, and oddly the beginning of the smut.

He'd only made it to the parking lot before she called.

"Are you already under attack?" He deadpaned, he could practically hear her roll her eyes.

"Did you go out the front door?" She sounded irritated, but not afraid, so he went inside. The bank was a little local place, the idea was to avoid anything easy to trace.

"No, I went through the garage, why?" He got in line, holding his phone in the crook of his neck so he could fill out paperwork.

"Because we have two citations from the home owners association on our door. One for the fence, and one for the lawn. We don't even own a lawn mower yet. Do we?" She slapped the papers down, and he could hear Diana kick up a fuss over the loud noise.

"Calm down. I'll bring a mower back, and I'm sure you can talk to the HOA to get rid of them. You were a six figure lawyer remember?" He could admit he wasn't paying her as much attention as he likely should, but it didn't sound very dire.

"I should have cursed her with boils, but your right. I'll go give this bitch a piece of my mind." She hung up, he frowned, that probably wouldn't be a good thing. He was not helping her hide a body. If she got arrested he would take Diana back to his Mother. 

"That little apple headed bitch!" Nick could hear her screaming in the garage, he grabbed the food before he went inside. 

"Sounds like things are going well. This is yours." Nick said, setting the bag down on the counter, and holding a bank card out for her. Adalind held up a yellow slip with Howling Oaks printed in bold across the top, snatching the card.

"I am giving that bitch boils, itching, festering boils! How can we have a noise complaint, I wasn't even here all day?" She slapped the paper down beside the bag he was unloading, he picked it up.

"This is definitely not legal, but you can't give her boils. I could flash a badge at her, but not until after I start on Monday." He said, she scoffed, pulling papers out of her bag.

"No way am I waiting for that. I knew you'd be a poor sport about the curse anyway, so I am going to use my other powers." She set Diana down in her play pen, and pulled out a pen. He gave her a suspicious look.

"Don't sleep with anyone either, we're supposed to be married." She looked up at him in disgust, clicking her pen manicly.

"I have standards Nick, I meant my legal power. I'm petitioning to remove her from the HOA, and have her citations revoked." She preened, filling in paperwork with quick, but elegant hand writing.

"What happens if one of her wütende taube flock takes her place?" Nick folded the paper bag, and tucked it under the sink with the ones from the day before.

"Well I can always fall back on the boils plan." She flashed him a pretty smile, he rolled his eyes, going out to get the rest. Setting up the surveillance system took all day, just like he knew it would. He had to take a break to watch Diana while Adalind turned in her paperwork, because apparently it couldn't wait until tomorrow.

"Here we go! I've got a monitor in our room, one in the side cupboard in the kitchen. It's got a lock, I don't want guests finding it. I also put one down in the lab, but there's no electricity down there, so it's wired to a battery. Only turn it on it you need it." Nick flicked on the monitor in the bedroom, clicking through the different video feeds.

"Wow, you can see the whole house, yard and all. Are there any blind spots?" She pulled the monitor closer, taking over the clicking.

"Just the bathrooms, but they don't have any access points." He kicked his boots off, stripping his shirt over his head. 

"Makes sense. Is there one in the lab?" She set Diana down in her crib, he shook his head. Getting up to grab his sweats.

"No, there's no electricity remember. I've got one in the back that can see in if the door is open, but I thought I'd put a sign up, and you could just flip it if you're down there." He went to shower, leaving her to play with the system. His eyes landed on the bra hanging from the towel rack, nothing special, beige with lace trim, but it made it hard for his mind not to go other places.

She left the lamp on, sitting up against the headboard. He came back, carding his hand through his hair, spraying little droplets of water across his shoulders. She looked up from her book with a smile. It felt so domestic, so innocently intimate to slip under the covers beside her. It should have made his skin crawl, it should disgust him, but it felt normal. He reached over, and turned off the light. 

"Do you miss her?" She whispered once the darkness wrapped around them, something about not having to see each other made it easier to talk openly.

"Yes." He waited so long to respond that she thought he would ignore her.

"Why did you come with us?" Even laying inches from her he nearly missed what she said with how quiet she spoke.

"She said some things. She thought your life, our lives were too dangerous to raise a kid. She didn't want to marry me. She wanted a normal life. I gave it to her." He rolled over, turning his back to her. She watched the rise and fall of his chest for a moment before she rolled over as well.

Nick woke to the sound of someone knocking on the door. He grabbed his side arm, shaking Adalind. She sat up with a start. He held a hand up to keep her quiet, pointing to the monitor. A small brunette shifted nervously on the doorstep, holding some kind of dish.

"Stay up here." He hissed, going down to answer the door. He set the gun on the table in the entryway.

"Hello?" He croaked, sleep still heavy in his voice. She squeaked, holding the Tupperware out like a shield, her face wogeing into an eisbiber.

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to wake you. Oh! I'm such an idiot! I just wanted to thank your wife for getting rid of Karen, she's been terrorizing us for years. I um, oh! I'm so sorry. Here!" She shoved the Tupperware at him, he took it mostly to keep it from clattering to the ground. He watched her leave, shutting the door to go back upstairs.

"Who was that?" Adalind had a knife from the trailer in one hand, and Diana in the other. He shook the Tupperware towards her.

"I don't know. She was an eisbiber, she wanted to thank you for unseating Karen, apparently we're not the only people who hated her." He cracked the lid, filling the room with the mouthwatering smell of brownies.

"Ooh, chocolate, and revenge, my favorite things." She set the knife down, and took one of the fresh brownies, still warm, and gooey. He took one too, holding an arm out for Diana holding the brownie in his mouth.

"I'm so happy for you." He bounced Diana, letting her put her hair up. They went downstairs to try out the booster seat, which lead to giving Diana her first bath. Adalind laid her down for a nap, Nick couldn't stop looking at her. The way her golden hair framed her soft face, and her jeans hugged her hips. 

"What?" She turned around and caught him staring, his look made a smile tug at the corner of her lips, little lines etching into her face. He wanted to reach out and touch the evidence of her joy.

"Motherhood looks good on you." He smirked, shifting closer to her, she looked him up and down. His broad frame, and dark stubble had always made her a little weak in the knees, but the look on his eyes took her breath away. She reached out putting her hand over his heart. He hadn't bothered to put a shirt on yet.

"It helps that you're here. You make me feel safe. Juliette was stupid to doubt that you could keep your family safe. Our family." She brushed her thumb across the dusting of hair on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against him. She gasped, grinning up at him, and he bent down to taste that smile.

"Nick!" She tangled her fingers in his hair, pulling him down into another kiss. He picked her up, her toes just barely dragging across the floor while he moved them to the bed.

"Adalind! I can't get you out of my head, ever since the first time I saw you. I always choose you, and I don't even mean to. I'm supposed to hate you, but I don't." He moved his hands up under her shirt while he kissed her neck. She pulled back, letting him toss her shirt aside. He cupped her breasts, warm calloused thumbs brushing across her peaks. She gasped, arching up into him.

"I've always wanted you, that body! It was coloured by hate, but hate is just passion, God Nick please!" She pushed at his sweats, he moved down her body, kicking and nipping at her milky skin. He hooked his thumbs in her waist band, pulling her pants, and panties down together. She kicked them off, trying to pull him back up. He forced her back into the bed with a hand on her stomach, hooking her leg over his shoulder.

"Nick!" She whimpered when he buried his face between her thighs. His rough stubble a stark contrast to his eager tongue. He hooked two fingers inside her, moaning when she clawed at his shoulders, her thighs quivering. She bit the meat of her palm to keep from crying out when he forced her over the edge.

"You taste so damn good!" He groaned, finally moving to kiss her again. She opened her mouth to him, eager to taste herself on his lips.

"Please Nick, I need you!" She wrapped her legs around his waist, grinding against his length, still frustratingly covered by his sweats. He took the time to suck deep purple marks into her skin from her jaw to her breasts while he kicked off his pants.

"I love you Adalind." He seared the words into her lips, sheathing himself to the hilt within her. She dug her nails into his back, and he pulled her head back with her hair to run his tongue along her jaw. He worked into her hard, he didn't have to hold back the way he always had since he became a Grimm.

Every stroke, every bite, or pull of her hair was met by her, she marked his neck, and shoulders, scratching down his back. Wild, and passionate he professed his love for her over and over again.

"Nick! Oh God! Nick! Yes! I love you! I love you so much! Please!" She writhed under him, her orgasm pulling him down over the edge. He came inside her, collapsing in a tangle of sweaty limbs. As the bliss of finishing faded he came back to himself. Half limp, still seated inside her. He threw himself back.

"What the hell! How? I- you- no! What the hell did you do?" Nick scrambled to cover himself up, managing to pull his sweats into his lap where he had fallen in the floor. 

"What did I do? You kissed me! You... Oh God, the brownies! Stupid! I think I'm going to be sick." Adalind had wrapped the blanket around herself, looking just as freaked out as him. Thank God Diana hadn't woken up during all that. 

"What does any of this have to do with brownies?" He tried to get his sweats on without flashing her. He got up, and tossed her jeans back to her. He turned away to give her the privacy to dress, running his hands over his face to keep himself from freaking out. It was not working.

"It has to be something in the brownies. A spell, or a hex. I need to get them to my lab and find out what." She grabbed the Tupperware which still sat on the bedside table, running out of the room. Nick turned on the baby monitor, not keen on going after her. He grabbed a shirt, going to shower, and brush his teeth before anything else. He felt so violated. He could still taste her on his tongue.

"How bad is it?" Nick choked out the words when he finally found it in himself to go down to the lab. Adalind looked up at him, and immediately looked away.

"It's the Amor Odium, it means love to hate. The good news is whoever have us these believed our cover story, the bad news is if we hadn't hated each other these would have killed us. Amor Odium turns love into hate, and it doesn't wear off until it culminates in the effected person killing the object of their love. If the intended victim doesn't love the target it does nothing, if they hate the target well... You were there. Hate turns to love culminating in rough sex apparently." She kept her eyes on the blue mixture that had apparently told her all of this. There was some comfort in knowing his hate for her had saved his life.

"Would you need to be a hexenbiest to make that?" He kept a safe distance from her, setting the baby monitor on the table.

"No, even a kehrseite could make it if they knew how." She finally looked at him, he swallowed hard, looking away.

"So all we know is that an eisbiber who didn't give me her name gave them to us." He crossed his arms, she took the bowls over to the large basin sink that sat in the corner closest to the house to dump them out.

"It had to be that bitch Karen, we only know three people here." She said while the colours from the bowls swirled together, turning a murky brown before the sucked down the drain.

"We can't assume that. We should find the woman who brought them, and question her directly." Nick said, he grabbed the monitor when when Diana started to fuss, going up the steps two at a time.

"Fine I'll go ask Lena about her." She went with him, letting him change her diaper, and taking her downstairs to feed her.

"You didn't even see her. I'll talk to them." He put a bib on Diana, happy to focus on her, instead of how Adalind still smelled like sex.

"We'll both go. Diana should get out of the house more anyway." Adalind floated the spoon, since it seemed to be the only way to get her to eat anything.

"We can't take a baby to interrogate a suspect, and we definitely can't take her to deal with whoever actually did this." He stroked her soft blonde hair while she ate, Diana cooed reaching up for him. He let her hold his finger in her little fist.

"Okay, once we know who it is I'll go talk to them, and you stay with Diana." She said as if that were the obvious choice. 

"No way. I am not burying a body." He went to the sink to set a washcloth for Diana, Adalind shot him a look over her shoulder.

"Please, I have more restraint than that. Like you said last night, you can't flash a badge at them, and you certainly can't flash your Grimm at them, what are you going to do? Everyone is afraid of a hexenbiest." She fixed him with an expectant look, he frowned, realizing that she was right, until he had a badge he was useless unless he wanted to pull a gun on them.

"Fine, but you keep me on the phone the entire time." He grabbed Diana's carrier, bringing it back for her.

"Aw, are you worried about me?" She wiped Diana off so they could set her on it. 

"I'm worried you'll do something to get arrested." He said, she chuckled, letting him lead her out of the house. Unlike their plain white door, the Crowe's had an intricate metal gate over their door, like a shop in a low rent neighborhood.

"These are protective symbols. Old world, I don't think you could break this door." Adalind touched the metal pulling back with a hiss when it burned her skin.

"Who could make something like this?" He took her hand to examine the injury before he realized what he was doing. He dropped her hand, ignoring the burn.

"Any metal worker willing to make blood iron. It takes a lot of blood, but it doesn't have to be human." She pressed her hand against her chest, he knocked, they needed to figure out what was going on here. There were too many wesen making his life complicated at the moment. The metal didn't seem to burn him.

"Nick, Adalind, hey. Come in." Lena opened the doors for them, Nick went in first, keeping himself between her and them.

"I was just making lunch if you wanted to join, Derek is in his workshop, but he'll have to come in eventually." She pointed to the mess of food strewn across their kitchen. It smelled like some kind of curry.

"No." They said in unison. "We had brownies not that long ago. A short, mousey sort of woman with brown hair brought them over to thank Adalind for getting Karen out of the HOA, you wouldn't happen to know who she is? We didn't get her name." Neither of them felt much like eating anything they didn't make themselves right now.

"Hm, it sounds like Tillie. She's a sweet lady, kind of timid. Karen liked to boss her around, so her being unseated would make Tillie's life a lot easier. She is at 403 if you're looking for her." Lena turned her back to them, scraping vegetables into the pan with a knife.

"I really like your gate, where did you get it?" Adalind smiled, handing Diana to Nick, and going to help her in the kitchen lol they were the best of friends.

"My husband made it. We foster a lot of kids here, so we like the little bit of extra security." She took the pan flipping it's contents with a snap of her wrist.

"That must be nice." Adalind nodded towards the back, but Nick didn't have time to go check it out. A steinadler in a leather apron came in, wiping his hands on an already sullied rag.

"Lena, I... Oh, hello." Adalind turned to see him, and she woged in response to him. Of course when the clicking of her hexenbiest started Lena woged into something Nick didn't recognize, silver fur, black around the eyes. She almost looked like a bear.

"Wow, hey, everybody stay calm." Nick grabbed Adalind by the wrist, pulling her back behind him.

"A hexenbiest, really? You're not under a hex are you Nick, because you two seemed so happy?" Lena looked between them, Adalind let her features melt back to the pretty blonde they were more familiar with.

"I didn't put a hex on my husband! No hex lasts that long without becoming unstable." She sounded so offended, which seemed a little over the top considering their history.

"No one is hexed, I... I love Adalind." Nick nearly choked on the words, he didn't like using them even when he meant it. It had taken four years before he told Juliette. Adalind slipped her hand from his grip on her wrist to hold his hand properly.

"Are you sure?" Derek moved to stand beside his wife, still watching them with yellow eyes, but the rest of his woge had faded.

"Yes, she's smart, and funny, and an amazing mother despite what everyone seemed to think, but that's not why we're here." Nick didn't have to lie, but the compliments still tasted sour on his tongue.

"Why are you here?" Lena finally turned back, setting her kitchen knife aside. There house had a much more open layout than the one Nick had chosen, so at least he didn't have to worry about someone else joining this tense stand off.

"Because someone tried to kill us. Tillie I think you called her, she brought us brownies this morning, and if I weren't a hexenbiest we would be dead. They were mixed with Amor Odium. Do you know what that is? " They shared a look, their expressions drawing tight.

"We do. I'd bet Karen is the one who made them. There have been a few questionable deaths since her family moved in. They're all wütende taube. She lives with her husband, and two daughters, though she gets a lot of visitors." Lena pressed herself against Derek's side, he wrapped an arm around her.

"I'm going to talk with Tillie, and we'll find out for sure." Adalind shot Nick a look, and huffed back out the door. Nick pinched the bridge of his nose. Why did these things always find him?

"So a hexenbiest, how did that happen?" Lena turned back to her cooking, seemingly relaxed now that Adalind had left.

"I saved her life, then she helped me as a lawyer. By the time I realized what she was it didn't matter. I couldn't just abandon her." Nick sat on the stool next to their island, taking his phone out. 

"I bet that reveal was a barrel of laughs." Derek sat beside him, one stool away. Nick shook his head.

"I tried to kill her actually. It didn't take. We worked it out eventually, but when I first saw her woge I thought I was losing my mind." He picked up his phone on the first ring.

"I'm here, mute yourself." Adalind said with a sharp rap on the door. Tillie didn't answer though, a little messy haired boy did.

"Oh, hello, I'm looking for Tillie." He could hear the smile on her voice, even from her pocket.

"Mom!" The boy ran into the house, and Adalind stood at the threshold, waiting as kids milled about like sugared up crack heads. She'd counted at least four, but they all looked fairly similar to her.

"You're not going to hurt her are you? Tillie is such a nice lady." Lena looked back at the phone on speaker in the middle of their island.

"No, she just wants to ask her if Karen is the one after us." Nick reassured them, he really hoped he was right.

"One second! Who is it?" Tillie finally came to the door with a toddler on her hip, Adalind held up the empty Tupperware for her.

"I just wanted to return this, and ask who thought they could poison me?" Her sickly sweet voice belaying the malice in her eyes.

"Oh! Oh, Tommy, come take your sister. I swear, I didn't make those. I just wanted to be nice. Karen said they were an apology, and I, well you know, she is a scary lady, and I thought if she was being nice I should encourage that. I only wanted to do what she told me. Please don't hurt me. I have kids! " She rattled off, practically shaking out of her frilly apron, which she was pretty sure had some kind of vomit on the front.

"I don't want to hurt you, but I do want you to make sure everyone knows that my family..." She woged, getting in Tillie's face. "Is not to be messed with. Ever!" Tillie squeaked, shrinking away from her.

"Yes! No! Nobody messes with the Kessler's! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean, I'm sorry." Adalind marched away from the house, she could hardly get her woge under control she was so mad.

"I'm going to kill that bitch!" Nick snatched his phone turning it off speaker. He gave them an awkward smile.

"I should probably go stop that." He got up with Diana, they shared a look.

"I think, no matter what happens you probably don't want to bring a baby with you. We can look after Diana for a couple hours of you want." Lena looked at him like he planned to go help her clean up dead bodies, not stop the fight.

"I don't know if that's a good idea." He shifted back towards the door, Lena shrugged, dishing out rice on the two plates she had out.He

"Damn it! Fine. Don't make me regret this." He set Diana back on the island before running out the door, because even without the speaker phone on he could hear the sound of a door being broken in. He had never been so grateful to have been turned into a zombie Grimm in his life, because the house was not close.

"You think some cheap dime store magic is going to be enough to kill me bitch!" Adalind shattered in the door already in full woge. Karen looked up from her tea with surprise etched across her face.

"A hexenbiest! No! You should be dead. Unless you killed him first. How did it feel to end the life of the man you love?" She got up with a yellow smile, her perfect curls on a wig stand beside her chair.

"I saw you coming a mile away. No one that I care about died, but I don't think we'll be able to say the same for you four." She lifted the splinters off the ground, using them to attack her, and her husband, a portly man in just his robe. They dived out of the way, but Karen's pained cry made Adalind smirk. The house had clutter on every surface. She had more than enough to throw at them.

She used the decorative figurines to strike the woman who tried to jump down the stairs at her. She knocked her out cold. She could take four of them no problem. A pigeon coo from behind her drew her attention in time to see three men coming through the door. 

"Have you met my nephews?" Karen cackled, getting up, and dusting herself off as she tried to fight the three new men attacking her. Unfortunately being on the floor wasn't the ideal place to start from. Her ears were still ringing from the blow. Just as suddenly as it started the man leaning back to hit her disappeared in a blur of black. 

Nick kicked him through a China cabinet, elbowing another one in the beak. He grabbed Adalind by the arm, hefting her back up on to her feet. He suddenly wished he had his side arm. Nick grabbed the closest one, throwing him back into the other one.

"This is why I didn't want you coming here!" Nick pulled Adalind back against him while the other daughter tried to stab her, since Adalind was busy using her powers to ram a splinter of the door through the neck of the husband before he could shoot Nick.

"She tried to kill us, what was I supposed to do, give her a friendly warning?" Nick twisted out of the way of a chair being swung at his head, grabbing the man around the neck and dropping him. It snapped under his grip, and he released him to sweep the legs out from under the daughter who had gotten close enough to hit Adalind.

"Well now she might succeed." He rammed his palm against the daughter's nose, blood splashing across his wrist. Adalind threw the mother through the kitchen table, but the other daughter had recovered, and the top of a kitchen knife just slid into the soft skin of Adalind's stomach when she dropped dead, blood seeping out of a wound in her neck. The last two quickly followed.

Nick lifted her shirt to see the damage, pressing his sleeve against the wound. It wasn't deep, but it would start bleeding in the floor of he didn't stop it, and he didn't need her blood at the scene of a mass murder.


	5. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They find out things here are a little more than they seem.

"Here." Lena held out a gauze pad, wiping the blood off her knife, and onto the nearest body. Nick took it, trying to deal with one confusing problem at a time.

"What are you doing here?" Adalind glared at her, Nick have her a reprimanding look, gesturing to the massacre that surrounded them. Shattered glass, broken tables, and hundreds on knick knacks covered the floor too.

"It's a long story. Let's get you back home with Diana. Derek and I will deal with the mess, and come over to explain." She gestured to the door, where Derek stood just outside, rocking Diana in her carrier. Adalind went to her immediately, stepping over corpses to hold her daughter. Other than the small wound she had somehow managed to avoid getting any blood on herself. Nick had not.

"Deal with it how?" He watched them, she puckered her face, turning her sour expression towards Derek.

"We'll bring the bodies to the kinoshimobe. Felix does the actual scene clean up though. He's a compulsive cleaner. Look it will make more sense once we talk. I promise. No one is calling the cops, and no one will report them missing." She ushered them out, Nick didn't know if he liked how okay they seemed to be with murder. He lead Adalind back towards the house, feeling very uneasy.

"What the hell were you thinking leaving Diana with them?" Adalind glared once they were safely back in their house.

"What was I thinking? I thought you were going to get yourself killed! I knew it was a mistake letting you handle this, now God knows what is going on with our neighbors. We were supposed to be laying low!" Nick yelled, Diana started to cry, which only made Adalind's scathing glare more ferocious.

"She tried to kill us, what's to stop her from trying again, or trying to hurt Diana. I can handle myself. You don't even like me, you don't have to come to my rescue." She kept her voice low, but the venom in her tone more than made up for it. She rocked Diana gently, sniffing at her before heading towards the stairs.

"So I was just supposed to let you die?" He chased after her, the bed was still a mess from what they had done earlier, and Nick found it hard to focus on being upset.

"Yes! If that's what it takes to keep Diana safe." She had lost her anger, now sweetly caring for her daughter.

"I came with you to make sure Diana could grow up with her mother. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you." Nick started stripping the soiled bedding to give himself something to do. The room fell silent while the weight of his words truly sunk in for Adalind. Her own mother hadn't shown the kind of loyalty to her that Nick had in only a handful of days, and he hated her.

"What do you think is going on here?" Adalind finally asked to break the silence as they walked downstairs with the sheets.

"I don't know, but I think it's a good thing you made me this." Nick wiggled the ring on his finger, she nodded. Once Nick had the sheets in the wash they made lunch, because killing is hungry work. Eventually Nick went out to the trailer to look up the wesen Lena was, and the thing she had mentioned. 

"Did you want some help?" Adalind whispered, standing uncomfortably in the threshold, the baby monitor dangling from one hand, two mugs in the other.  
"Sure." He held a book up for her, she traded it for the mug with coffee in it. She sat on the bed, and started flipping through them. She pulled her legs up, resting the book on her knees and sipping at her tea.

"I'm sorry." She whispered after silence has stretched between them for a long time. Nick looked up with a raised brow.

"I shouldn't have killed them, and I should have realized what was happening with the Amor odious." She flipped the page in her book not wanting to look at him. He sighed, sipping at the coffee she brought him she'd made it exactly how he liked it, he didn't even know she knew.

"It wasn't your fault. We both ate them." He couldn't address the killing, because some part of him understood it, and he definitely didn't want to examine that part of himself.

"It felt... I've never had that, and I knew something wasn't right, but I didn't want to question it." She curled in on herself, looking so small with the giant tomb on her lap. It had never occurred to him that someone could go through life without feeling loved by anyone. He'd lost his parents, but he'd had Marie, and then Juliette. 

"Well I didn't second guess it for a moment, so you did better than me. Love spells are stronger than I expected. It was different than anything I've ever felt too." He let her in on what had been bothering him too, if she could be that open with him the least he could do is return the favor.

"Really? I thought you loved Juliette?" She looked up at him, his soft look of concern hardened to one of irritation.

"I do." He closed his book, he could hear someone coming up the drive. Adalind watched him walk away. The potion wasn't a love potion, it didn't create obsession the way other's would. It mirrored emotions, hate could only come from love, and vice versa. If it felt different than what he had with Juliette, had he never really loved her? She hurried after him, a whirl of unanswered questions.

"Come in." Nick opened the door before they got to the steps, and they came inside to stand in the living room. Derek stood angled slightly so one of them faced each of the others. The way the held themselves Nick could tell they were worried about this turning into a fight.

"Well you better start talking, because I need to know if we're going to have to pack again." Adalind crossed her arms, the monitor in her left hand. Nick reluctantly took his place beside her.

"Okay, you might want to sit, it's kind of a long story." Lena flopped down, cross legged on the floor, looking to all the world like she had come for a girls night, and not to explain why mass murder could be written off with a smile.

"Nobody, really? Ugh, Derek, sit down." She tugged on the seat of his pants, making him fall quite gracelessly to the floor next to her. He made a face but didn't protest. Adalind, and Nick moved to sit on the couch.

"Good, okay, so... Howling Oaks is a wesen community, as in everyone who lives here is wesen, or at least in the know. Being a special sort of community we have a special set of rules. They should have been told to you before you moved in, but you're subletting until the end of the year, so it didn't flag in the system. 

"The HOA should have brought it to the board, so they could have let you know, but Karen and her family have always been a problem. We were actually voting on removing them from the community next Monday, so I guess you saved us some squabbling, though we probably wouldn't have killed them." Lena rocked back and forth while she talked, clearly not used to sitting still.

"You're saying what? That this whole place was founded to keep wesen safe, by who, a heard of Seelengüt?" Adalind pushed, Nick was happy to let her ask questions for now, he was more interested in watching the pair in front of him. He needed to know this wasn't going to turn on them. He'd seen what a heard, or a any like minded group could do if they put their mind to destruction.

"Blutbad actually, way back when this was a colony, but it's not just about keeping us safe. Howling Oaks also keeps them safe from us. We have access to things a lot of wesen on their own wouldn't. We can source human meat from mourges run by wesen for people who need it to survive. A group of us take turns sleeping over at the Alpe's house, and the national forest provides a safe place to run for the more animal of us. We keep hikers, and other people who could get hurt out of the area. We even have a facility to hold wesen with seasonal effective disorders, like lycanthropy." She popped up on her knees, pulling out a brochure to show him where those things were on the little map.

"That's actually really smart." Adalind took the paper from her, leaning back next to him, he looked it over, other than some veiled comments in the text it didn't actually mention wesen in the brochure.

"What about Grimms, or the Royals?" Nick had to know if this was going to be the kind of place that would turn them over to Victor. That got their attention, Lena looked down at her hand worrying her lip between her teeth for a moment.

"That's not something we usually advertise. We've never delt with a Grimm, but the Royals are not welcome here. They're old world power, and this is America. We obviously don't tell people that unless they're Verrat. I usually exclusively deal with them." She held her hand out to show them the large burn covering her palm. When Nick sat forward he could see the remnants of a tattoo sticking out from under the edges of the scar.

"I didn't think leaving the Verrat was even possible." Adalind snatched her hand, nearly yanking Lena over the table, but she didn't seem to mind.

"It's not. A lot of people died before I found this place." She said, Derek leaned over to kiss the top of her head as she settled back.

"A lot more will too if they ever try to take you." He whispered, she smiled, sinking closer to him with a little sigh.

"How do you deal with the cops, because I'm a police detective. As much as I appreciate you helping us I don't know if I could turn a blind eye on unjustified murder." Nick couldn't help adding that, because at heart he really was a cop.

"Oh. Wow. Okay, well we don't generally kill people, like I said. One of my adopted daughters is a cop, so if we can deal with things legally we do. Exceptions are occasionally made if someone is too dangerous to take into custody. What happened today will have to go before the board. Given the nature of the crime we won't turn it over to the police, which is why I helped clean it up, but You will probably be asked to do some community service if they let you stay. We do have rules." Lena said, Nick looked over at Adalind with a small frown.

"What kind of community service?" Adalind bristled, the lawyer in her coming to the surface with a stone cold expression.

"Since Nick is a cop, probably neighborhood watch stuff for him, and as a hexenbiest they'll probably ask you to work in the community garden. Nothing too bad." They both sank back, trying to decide if this community was a good thing, or if it would be more trouble than it's worth.

"Oh, I'll need those brownies. Helena will want to test them to make sure you were telling the truth." Lena fidgeted, Adalind got up, handing the monitor to Nick to go and get what they had left.

"I met a Grimm, in... Chicago. Do you have policy in place for it one ever showed up?" He almost forgot where he'd supposedly come from. Lena and Derek shared a look, he shrugged.

"I guess live, and let live. As long as they don't try to come in here, we wouldn't take any kind of action. We don't have any reapers living here, and we'd like to keep it that way." They got up as Adalind came back with two brownies in cellophane.

"The board will call you guys tomorrow to set up a meeting, hopefully it won't have to go past that." Lena took the evil snacks and left them in the silence of their shared home. The ease with which they had existed had burned away in one moment of passion, and a twisted part of him hoped they could get it back. At least here he didn't have to shield Adalind from the real horror of his life as a Grimm.

"Well that went better than expected I suppose." Adalind whispered, it felt wrong to raise her voice now, as if the peace between them would shatter into another fight. Nick nodded, getting up to go back to his trailer. Adalind went up to get Diana, and they didn't speak again until night fell.

"I didn't know if you still wanted me to..." Nick stood in the door, gesturing to the bed while he tugged at the hem of his shirt.

"Yeah. If you don't mind. It helps." She pulled the blanket up, closer to herself. She had fixed the bed, and their clothes had been washed. The only evidence of their time together lingered on her skin. The scarlet marks seated across her neck, her thin tank top let him see the edge of one at the swell of her breasts.

"Yeah. I'm gonna wash up." He didn't need to shower, he'd done it twice already today. Once to free himself from the taste and smell of her, and once to wash away the blood he spilled to save her life. He stared into the mirror, his toothbrush dangling from his lips when he realized he had his own set of hickies. 

One under his jaw, long and thin where she bit him while he was still teasing her. Two down his neck on either side, just possessive little freckles of bruising. The one that drew his eye though bloomed deep purple across his shoulder, just above his collar bone. She had bitten down on him to quiet herself when he finished inside her. His fingers traced the mark without his permission.

It felt tender, and when he turned to see it better he caught a glimpse of the scratches down his back, just under where he stretched his collar to see the bite. He pulled his shirt off, turning to see them. They were mostly just raised red marks from her scrabbling to get him to do as she pleased, but one set down from his shoulders to his ribs had drawn blood near the end. They might even scar. Tiny white lines forever on his skin from her. 

Juliette had never been rough with him. Nothing on his skin could prove that he had made her lose control. He had nothing left of her. He twisted his arm to touch the scratch, a sharp pain echoing her nails. Maybe he didn't need to sleep with the shirt on. He hadn't felt he needed one before, and Adalind was right; this wasn't their fault.

She smiled at him when he came back in, and slid into the bed. As the lights were turned out, and her breathing evened out he realized he'd always worn a shirt with Juliette. He had a few more options then, but now the ache in the scratches felt just a bit like betrayal. He foced his eyes closed. This was his choice. She wanted to be safe, and now she was.


	6. Consequences Sort of

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick starts working.

For the second day in a row Nick woke to the sound of a knock on the door. He officially hated this place. He just wanted to go to work, and be a normal cop again. He slid out of the bed, taking his sidearm with him.

"Hello?" He croaked, belatedly realizing he hadn't put on a shirt, and his entire upper body had been painted with the evidence of Adalind.

"Mr. Kessler I presume. I do apologize for the early hour. My name is Henrik Vonsetler. I represent the board of community safety. I came to take your statement. I'm afraid I will also need to speak to your wife. Due to the nature of your arrival the board has decided some lenience is in order, but proper paperwork must still be filed." Henrik stood a few inches taller than Nick, in an expensive suite. His hair stuck back in a shiny slick, and his eyes looked bored with this already.

"Alright. Let me go wake her up." Nick let him inside, he turned on the coffee maker on his way by. Adalind was already up, taking care of Diana. He scrubbed the scruff on his face. He needed to get a razor, he'd have a beard pretty soon.

"The board representative is here to take our statements." He ran his hand through his hair, trying to make himself look presentable. He tugged on a button up shirt, but the man had already seen him, so there wasn't much use in it now.

"Do they seem hostile, or is this like when Hank wanted my statement?" She took a moment to put her hair up in a neat ponytail, and slip on a casual sweater that hung over her hands, and down to her knees.

"It seems by the books, but from the looks of him he's a lawyer, or an accountant, not a cop." He took Diana, and they went back down to face the music. He sat neatly in one of their kitchen chairs that he had taken to the living room so they could sit on the couch. The set up put him in a position of authority. This was not his first time.

"Okay. So just for the sake of formality I will be recording this conversation, if you could state your names." He set a recording device on the table, Adalind sat on the couch, reaching forward and turning it off.

"No, you will not be. We will not be making an usable confessions during this conversation. We will happily answer any questions you have for your forms, but neither myself, not my husband will be providing you with any further evidence of the events of yesterday afternoon. I am not some wet behind the ears house wife." She patted the couch beside her, and Nick sat with a small chuckle. Adalind did have her uses.

"I see. That's perfectly fine. I will try and make this as expedient as possible." He rattled off questions, and Nick found himself letting Adalind answer unless they were directed to him specifically. Listening to them go back and forth told Nick two things, this guy was definitely a lawyer, and Nick never wanted to sit across from Adalind in a courtroom. This was making his head spin.

"In closing we would like to request that in lieu of community service that Nick allow us to pair him with an officer who is already familiar with the community. They are excellent at their job, and we would never ask either of you to perjure yourselves for our benefit, but having detectives familiar with the challenges we face goes a long way to keeping us off the radar." Nick tuned back in at the mention of his name.

"Yeah, having a partner who understands the wesen world always helps." Nick got up as he did, and shook Henrik's hand. Adalind walked him to the door, while Nick booped Diana on the nose, enjoying her little giggle.

"I didn't listen to half of that, and my head still hurts." Nick didn't look up as she came back, instead he bounced Diana on her feet in his lap. Nick's phone rang on the table, they shared a look.

"Nick Kessler." He answered.

"Hey, it's Derek. I could use a hand. No dead bodies, just a blacksmithing problem, and since my wife is out dealing with the board you get the short straw." Derek sounded distant, and halfway through something crashed to the ground.

"I can be right over." Nick handed Diana off to Adalind, getting up. He didn't want to wear a white button up to do whatever blacksmithing entailed.

"Door's open." Derek hung up, Nick took the steps two at a time.

"Okay. Are you just going to run off without telling me what's going on?" Adalind called after him, he came back in a tee with a smile.

"Apparently I'm going to blacksmith. Derek needs a hand, and I figure I owe him." Nick put his gun on his belt, and grabbed his coat without waiting for a response. 

"Bye, I guess. Your fake Daddy is a complete goof Diana. Let's go finish that charm." Adalind headed for the lab. Nick came back absolutely dripping sweat, and soot. Turns out blacksmithing is extremely warm. He made his way up the stairs and nearly ran straight into Adalind.

"Oh" She put a hand on his chest to keep herself from falling into him.

"You need the bathroom." He didn't intend to sound annoyed, but his words came out harsh with her touching him.

"That's okay, I can wait." She pulled her hand back, wringing them together and twisting her long sleeves.

"No, you go first." He waved a hand towards the door, just trying to be polite. He really did want to unstick his clothes from his sweat sodden skin.

"Are you sure, because you look a little dirty." She gestured to his everything, which seemed fair, but if she would just go she probably would have been done by now.

"Yeah well, you look - wow! Did Diana throw up on you?" He really looked at her for the first time, her shirt splattered with brightly colored vomit. Suddenly the idea of going first made him feel terribly guilty.

"Sort of. I'll be quick." She ducked into the bathroom leaving Nick to lean back against the dresser.

"What were you doing to get so filthy?" Adalind called through the door, Nick tugged at his shirt with a little smile.

"Derek is working on some kind of metal fire pit. The thing is huge, and a lot of it still has carbon from being fired all over it." He had actually enjoyed his afternoon, despite the mess, Derek was funny, if not a little blunt, and watching their work create something felt good.

"Ooh! I just realized I forgot to bring clothes to change into." She sounded almost petulant, he supposed she hadn't had quite as much fun getting thrown up on.

"Oh yeah, well I can get you something. What do you need?" He pushed away from the dresser, waiting for her to answer.

"Anything without baby puke would be fine." She said, he turned to dig through the dresser, but found it fairly empty. 

"Hey sweety, just so you know, it's not nice to throw up on your mom." He stopped to look down at Diana's sweet face, she smiled up at him, wiggling in her crib. How long would it be before she could walk? She was growing too fast. People would start to question it if she got into a school.

"There wasn't much to choose from so I just got you one of my shirts." He knocked, holding the folded over white fabric towards the door, but keeping his eyes averted. He had too many memories of her naked as it was.

"Thanks." Her hand snuck out, and took the shirt.

"You know we should really buy some clothes, I don't have much either." Which was true, he only had two other button up shirts to wear to work.

"I can get some while you're at work if you know your size. I know it's awkward, but it's not like I don't have the time." She offered, he didn't mind the idea, he had always hated shopping for clothes with Juliette.

"Yeah, well, not having clothes is awkward." He stepped back when she opened the door.

"True. Okay. Thank you." Adalind came out of the bathroom in just his white button down shirt, the sleeves going down past her hands, but the shirt itself hardly covered the curve of her ass.

"Your turn." She passed towards the bed, barefoot, and the slight bruise on her thigh caught his attention. A bruise shaped suspiciously like his hand. He shook himself free of the sight, pulling his shirt over his head as he closed the door. He found himself once again confronted by Adalind's under things. That woman would be the death of him.

~~

Nick slid out of bed before his alarm. He made breakfast, and coffee, Adalind would be thrilled to start drinking coffee again now that she'd started weaning Diana off of breast milk. Living with her made it uncomfortably difficult not to think about her. He made up a plate, and brought it upstairs when he'd finished eating. He put a hand on her shoulder, still covered only by his shirt. 

"I gotta go to work." He whispered, setting the plate on the bedside table, and left before she could truly wake up. He parked outside the precinct, it didn't look that different than the one he came from. He almost hoped Hank would be inside waiting for him.

"You must be Kessler!" A blonde woman said she stood nearly six inches taller than him, which made it hard not to look at her impressive rack.

"Nick is fine." He looked up, not wanting to be rude, there are detectives, and uniforms milling around them, giving him sympathetic looks.

"Róta Schulz, I'm your new partner. Come on, I'll show you around town." She clapped her arm around his shoulder, practically picking him up to take him towards the garage, and the cruiser.

"Wait! I need my badge. I haven't even seen the captain." Nick shook himself out of her grasp to try and get to the office.

"Oh! Right, sorry, I get ahead of myself. Come on." She seemed to garner a pretty wide birth when they passed. He followed in the path she created, and she walked into the captain's office like it belonged to her.

"Oh captain, my captain. I come bearing a newbie." She shoved Nick in front of the desk, he tried not to stumble.

"Nicholas Kessler, welcome. Your record with the Chicago PD is quite impressive. We're happy to have you." He slid a badge across the desk, Nick picked it up, and another part of him fell back into place. He'd felt so naked without his badge. At least he had a sidearm. He'd already done the paperwork to register it.

"I'm happy to be here. With the baby at home it's good to talk to someone whose idea of a fun time has nothing to do with blocks, or binkies." Nick hooked the badge on his belt, patting it gently.

"Alright, pleasantries over, let's go." She manhandled him back out of the office, once they made it out to the garage Nick stopped with great effort against her jostling.

"Okay, no more. I know how to walk." He said, she pulled her hands away with a bit of a grimace.

"Sorry, I'm just really excited. My last partner was a kehrseite, not even a kehrseite-schlich-kennen. You have no idea how difficult it is to do your job with a leash like that." She patted the hood of their plain navy blue cruiser. It looked almost exactly like the one he'd shared with Hank.

"I do actually, I'm the one who had to explain it to my last partner. Hank took it pretty well." He said, a small frown creases his brow. He couldn't pretend to be a kehrseite-schlich-kennen, not with how strong he was, and his ability to see wesen woge. If he was going to play it close to the chest he'd have to pretend to be a wesen.

"Oh yeah? That had to be rough. It's not easy deciding to bring someone into this world. So..." She woged, her eyes shimmered so light blue they seemed to glow almost white, and her ears sprouted back into what looked like wings. Her blonde hair turned silver, and the crown of her head looked almost metallic.

"Sorry, I can't do the full thing in the car, but it's good to know what you're working with. Not to be insensitive , but what are you?" She nearly bounced in her seat, he couldn't woge obviously, but he had to say something.

"Pflichttreue, I don't woge in public. I had a Grimm in my old town." He didn't technically lie, she went wide eyed while she pulled off on to the main road.  
"A Grimm! I've never even heard of one being around, much less met one. How was she, did she murder a bunch of wesen in your precinct?" She had the same fear of the word that he always encountered.

"No, he was a cop. He was always fair, we were actually pretty close." He tried not to chuckle at his own little joke. She laughed, the kind of half hysterical sound that would be reserved for someone who was clearly out of their mind.

"No wonder you have such strict control. I don't think I could ever be friends with a Grimm. It's in their nature to kill us. That's like a reinigen being buddies with a klaustreich, or me being friends with a hexenbiest." The way she said hexenbiest made it sound like a curse word, Nick bristled, he didn't love them either, but he didn't need his partner hating his pretend wife.

"What's wrong with hexenbiest?" He decided to see where it stemmed from before he told her anything.

"Only everything. They want power, but they won't work to get it, they're underhanded crow starving cowards. They wouldn't know a fair fight if it hit them over the head. The argrs can never be trusted. They change sides like I change socks." She said, Nick found his teeth gnashing despite not fully understanding everything she said. He knew enough to be offended on Adalind's behalf. She was many things, but cowardly was not one of them.

"Adalind is a hexenbiest." Nick looked casually out the front windshield as the city swept by them. 

"Who?" She pulled up to a stop light, the roads here were a bit more convoluted than he was used to. He held up his hand, wiggling his wedding band, not really feeling like talking at the moment.

"Oh! Oh my God! I'm so sorry! I'm sure she's lovely, I didn't mean... I guess that explains all that, I kind of thought it was a bold choice for the first day, but if your wife is a hexenbiest, not that it's a bad thing. I am totally screwing this up right now." She gestured to his neck. Nick's hand went to his collar, feeling the slight sting of the bruising her lips had left on him.

"It's fine, I know Adalind is a bit of an acquired taste. I just thought you should know before you kept at it." He honestly shouldn't have cared at all, and it upset him that it upset him, which was fairly upsetting. Thankfully dispatch broke the awkward silence, and they went to investigate their first case together.

Before he left for the day he pulled up his work email. It would be safer than doing this at home. He'd thought about dozens of things he wanted to tell his mother. He missed his friends, and Juliette, he missed his life. In the end he decided to go with something simple. The less he said, the less likely anyone was to notice.

M,

Made it safely.

N.

Five syllables sent to the only contact he had with his entire life. He had a new life now, as odd as it was, it wasn't that bad. He got up, grabbed his coat, and left for their house. He had expected living with Adalind to be more of a hassle than it was, which made it even nicer. She exceeded his expectations. 

"Adalind, I'm back." Nick called out as he moved through the entry way towards the kitchen. There were two bags on the table that looked like clothes, and a note on the fridge.

Supper's in the fridge.

It alarmed him how quickly he'd come to recognize her crisp hand writing, even hastily scrawled on the bright yellow square. He checked the security monitor first, noting that they were in the living room. He pulled out his supper, which turned out to be fried potatoes, pork chops, and green beans. He pulled the cellophane back to sniff it. It certainly smelled good.

He stopped the microwave one second before it beeped, going to the living room to let her know he'd gotten home. He had to drop the plate on the coffee table when the plate prooved to be too hot. He shook his hand, trying to loose the residual burn. When he turned to see why Adalind hadn't started laughing at him he was surprised to see her asleep. Passed out really. Her mouth hung open, and her hair a mess, with Diana tucked against her side. 

She wiggled, kicking at Adalind to try and get to him, so he leaned down to scoop her up, kissing her belly before setting her with her toys. He should probably have put her in her crib, it was late, but he wanted to eat first. As he sat down with his beer the couch sank towards him. In her sleep Adalind shifted towards his warmth, tucking up against his side.

He frowned, but she wasn't impeding his ability to eat, so he let her stay there. Eventually, when his plate had been scraped clean of it's surprisingly delicious contents he had no choice but to move. He set his dishes aside, and cradled her cheek to try and shift her gently down on the couch. He got up, washing his dishes while he kept an eye on Diana though the monitor. Once he finished he brought her up to her crib, trying to get her down for the night.

He showered, and got ready for bed, and was then faced with something of a dilemma. He didn't want to wake Adalind. She looked exhausted, but he couldn't let her sleep on the couch. She would definitely wake up sore. He kicked himself all the way back down the stairs, because really there was only one viable option. 

He hooked one arm under her knees, and one under her back, lifting her with ease. Sometimes he forgot just how small she really was. She had such a large presence, she commanded attention like no other, and it made it easy to forget that she could be fragile too. She mumbled in her sleep, nuzzling against his bare chest when he got her up. He glared down at her while he went up to their room. He'd pulled the blankets back, so he only had to set her down, and tuck her in. Why couldn't he just keep hating her? 

~~

Adalind woke up in the bed, which is not where she fell asleep. She shot up when she didn't fine Diana in her arms, but even in bed she could see her in the crib. She looked over at Nick, she didn't remember him coming home. He must have brought her upstairs. He jerked in his sleep, his brows pinching together. 

She laid back down beside him, letting her arm touch his, and his hand snapped out taking her's. She didn't pull away, and it seemed to sooth him to have a hold of whatever she represented in his dreams. She woke three more times to his thrashing before she gave up on getting more sleep. After everything he did yesterday she figured she at least owed him breakfast. Nick came down before she could get too much further than mixing the batter.

"Hey. You know it kind of ruins breakfast in bed if you wake up before I finish cooking." She pointed at him with a spatula before flipping the thin pastry on to a plate. She buttered the thin pancake sprinkling sugar over it before rolling it up.  
"I still appreciate the thought. Sorry I got in so late, there was a lot of paperwork. What is this?" He folded the odd pancake roll, looking at both sides of it.

"A skinny pancake, or, well it's a lot like a crépe. I found my aunt's recipe in one of my mother's books. My aunt always called them skinny pancakes, she was a little odd." Adalind said, Nick frowned at it, despite it's steaming buttery goodness he didn't know if he trusted it.

"Your mother's books of hexes, and spells?" He raised a brow at her, she rolled her eyes, pushing a recipe at him.

"A lot of hexes can be put in baked goods. I promise, it's just food, you big baby." She leaned over to take a bite of the pancake he held. Nick shrugged, stuffing the whole thing in his mouth at once.

"How was work? Wow, I sound so domestic. You don't have to tell me." She shook her head, why was she even asking? It wasn't like they were actually friends.

"It was good actually, these are delicious, by the way. Róta, my partner, is some kind of wesen with these wings coming out of her head, and metallic skin on her brow. She hates you already apparently." Nick snagged the next one, pouring himself a glass of milk. 

"Ugh, it sounds like a walküre, their pompous meat heads, they're one of the only wesen with actual wings, and not just on their head. They can't fly, but they glide. The wings are actually for healing. If they wrap their wings around someone wounded they sort of vibrate. They release an enzyme, with this subsonic frequency that promotes healing. Their feathers are one of the main ingredients in a lot of potions, and charms. " Adalind tilted the pan slowly, moving the batter towards the edges.

"You're pretty handy to have around. That doesn't explain why she hates you though." Nick reached over to take another pancake, and she slapped his hand with the spatula.

"You can't eat all of them!" She took a bite with an adorable glare. "Walküre are the basis for a lot of myths, angels, apkallu, and most notably the Valkyrie. They actually got a lot of it right, Hel was a hexenbiest. Half beautiful girl, half hideous corpse, sound familiar? Back then hexenbiest would pluck their wings if they caught them. They killed us in return, so there's still a bit of a prejudice." 

"Well do you plan on plucking my partner? How is that a normal sentence in my life?" Nick scowled down at the newest pastry. Adalind chuckled, holding the plate out for him to take the next one.

"No, if I need a feather I can just buy one. It's not like they don't molt." She poured the last of the batter into the pan.

"As long as neither of you try to kill the other. I had to tell her I'm a Pflichttreue." He went over to sit with Diana. She crawled towards him, giggling when he scooped her up.

"What? Why?" She shut the stove off, nibbling at her breakfast while she watched them. Nick fell back, swooping Diana through the air above him, before setting her on his chest.

"Well I couldn't tell her I'm a Grimm, and I couldn't pretend to be kehrseite. I can see wesen, and I'm a lot stronger than a normal person. A partner is going to notice that eventually. I feel like I'm right back where I was a few years ago, lying to everyone." He tried not to think too hard on things like that, but he still didn't like it.

"I suppose a Pflichttreue is a pretty good choice. At least you can tell her shades of the truth. I'm sorry I got you into all this." She came over to sit next to him in the mess of toys and blankets Diana loved so much.

"It's not your fault. So, are those for me?" He looked back at the bags still set out on the dinning room table.

"Yes. I think everything should fit, but if any of it doesn't I kept the receipt. " She took Diana from him so he could go try it on. Adalind bit down on a little gasp when he stripped his tee off, and started trying things on at the table. It wasn't like she hadn't seen him shirtless a dozen times since they came here, but somehow seeing him strip over and over made her a little weak in the knees.

"These are a little tight." He tugged at the tee shirt she'd gotten him, Adalind set Diana in the play pen to get closer.

"They're meant to be tight. You have muscles for days Nick, show them off. Trust me, it looks good." She slid the bag with assorted pants towards him. He pulled a pair out, eyeing them suspiciously.

"These aren't meant to be tight are they, because some things need room. " He said, she scoffed.

"I am well aware of the space you need in that area, now go get dressed for work, unless you plan to try those on at the table too." She smirked, he gave her a look, but took the bag with him upstairs. Things went well, they had cases, but Róta actually knew a lot about local wesen, and he didn't have to use the trailer for anything other than his own research all week.


	7. Realizations and Trubel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life with Adalind isn't so bad, maybe even better than life had been before.

N, 

Glad you're safe. J wants this address.

M

Nick read the email six times, but no amount of time would change what it said. Juliette wanted to contact him. Why? She didn't want a life with him, so why did she need to talk to him. Obviously he'd made the decision a little spur of the moment, but he wanted to keep her safe. He hadn't even thought about her for the last three days. He'd just started to really settle into this life.

"If I stare at one more form I'm going to lose my mind. I need a drink. What do you say?" Róta clapped him on the shoulder, getting up from her desk. Nick looked down at his watch. He had time to kill, but drinks with Hank always ran late. It might be nice to drink on this before he emailed her back.

"Sure." He grabbed his jacket, and pulled out his phone to shoot Adalind a text saying he'd be home late. He needed to get his head on straight, and a little bar room therapy was just what he needed.

"Thank God, these cases are all paperwork, no action." They took a cab, Nick had left the truck with Adalind anyway. They really needed a second car. The bar had a fight on, but it wasn't that different than the one he went to with Hank. It felt good to be out with a friend, this week almost felt normal. Which left him feeling guilty. He needed to be okay with what he had, it wasn't like he could actually talk it out with her. He certainly couldn't fix it.

"It's dumb, I miss my friends, but I shouldn't... I shouldn't feel bad for not feeling bad!" Nick mumbled when he and Róta were stumbling up his driveway. He'd offered to make her coffee at some point, but he had no idea what time it was.

"Of course not! You deserve to be happy, you have a... A wife, and a kid. Your friends must get that, and if they don't they aren't worth having around. We are lucky to have you here. You're a good cop, and a good friend!" She pulled him into her side with an arm around his shoulder. He chuckled, letting her rag doll him back and forth as they walked through the entry way.

"Right! It's important that I'm here! They... They wanted to break up a family. How, how is that okay?" He pouted, her shaking was starting to make him a little nauseous. He looked up, and saw Adalind sitting at the dining room table.

"Adalind!" Nick grinned, falling forward out of Róta's grasp. "This is... Róta! My partner. Partner this is my Adalind." Nick made it to the table, and put a hand on her shoulder. Adalind gave her a warm smile.

"It's nice to meet you, but I think I better put him to bed. Did you need to stay the night? We have a spare bed, but it's not the most comfortable." She went over to Róta, looking like a teeny tiny doll compared to his partner. 

"I don't think I should drive. Wait. We left the car at work. I could call a cab I suppose." Róta looked back at the door, not exactly firing on all cylinders.

"Nonsense you can stay here. You are Nick's partner after all, you're practically family." Adalind put a hand on the small of her back, and lead her upstairs.

"That's the bathroom, and you can stay in here." She spoke loud enough that she knew Nick would hear her. 

"Don't forget, I'm Nick's wife, and I don't have to be anywhere near you to repay you for anything that happens to him." Adalind whispered when she got her tucked into bed, Róta watched her with wide eyes as she set a glass of water on the nightstand.

"Sweet dreams." She flashed a sickly sweet smile, and went down to deal with Nick. He had his head in the fridge, only one shoe on, the other tipped on it's side by the table.

"Get out of there, you need to get to bed, and I don't want you throwing up in it." She pulled him from the fridge, and forced a glass of water into his hand.

"You are so pretty when you're angry. You're just petty all the time. It's not fair. You did so many things to us, I'm supposed to hate you, but you buy me clothes that look nice, and talk sweet to Diana, and you kill people to keep us safe. You... You leave your underwear all over, and you listen if I want to talk. How am I supposed to keep hating you?" Nick pouted into his half empty cup of water. She laughed, brushing a hand down his back in an attempt at comfort. Maybe drunk Nick wasn't so bad.

"I don't want you to hate me. I thought we decided we shouldn't hate each other, for Diana's sake." She leaned back against the counter beside him, he set his glass down, sagging under the weight of something he wasn't talking about.

"I feel like liking you is betraying her." He whispered, Adalind winced, she wished that didn't make so much sense.

"Juliette. Nick, what happened?" She dropped her hand, letting him have the room to get his thoughts together.

"I got an email from my Mom. She wants the email, but what would she even say? I left because she didn't feel safe with me. I... I could hardly talk to her about my life as a Grimm, even after she knew. She wanted me to be normal. How... How am I supposed to pretend none of this is happening? I want to help people. I like being a Grimm." He stared blankly at the patterns in the wood cabinets. Adalind frowned, she didn't realize things had been going so poorly between them when he left. They seemed happy.

"You didn't choose to be a Grimm Nick. It's who you are. You couldn't change that any more than I could stop being a hexenbiest. Even without powers, it's who we are. I'm sorry for my part in what Juliette had to go through. Maybe if I hadn't taken her memories she would have been more accepting of what you are." Adalind looked down at her bare feet, tracing the tile with her toe. just to give herself something to look at.

"No, she thought I was crazy when I tried to explain how dangerous you were. I might never have told her if not for you. I can't let her have the email. She won't keep our cover. I can't explain. I just hope she's happy with her normal life." He leaned his head on Adalind's shoulder. She put her arm around his waist, and lead him upstairs. That night they didn't pretend they didn't need each other.

She was afraid, and he was alone, trying to keep her family safe. They were all they had, and just for one moment, they let it be okay. He held her against his chest, and she curled around his arms. They slept peacefully for the first time in months.

Nick woke up feeling warm, and comfortable. He might have just gone back to sleep, except his mouth tasted like something died in it. He shifted to get up, and realized he was wrapped around Adalind, his knees tucked into hers, and his arm draped over her stomach. The sweet smell of honeysuckle, and apple came from the mess of golden hair he'd buried his nose in while he slept.

All of this would have simply been awkward, maybe even irritating, but the coup de grâce was his raging morning wood pressed firmly against the swell of her ass. He needed to get up before she woke, or he would never hear the end of it. Stupid traitorous body! He tried to slip his arm out from under her head, but she had a hold of his hand. He craned over her, trying to work his hand free. She stirred, and he gave up, yanking himself free in one motion, flopping into the floor. He retreated to the bathroom for a cold shower.

"Nick? You okay? Are you feeling a little stiff this morning?" She called through the door, he thumped his head against the counter. Of course she had been awake the whole time, because why would she want to make his life easier?

"I'm going to make breakfast." She didn't usually tell him, but she figured he might need a moment where he knew he was alone to deal with that. She'd only been downstairs for a few minutes when Róta stumbled down, half asleep, but clearly not hungover.

"Oh... Hello. I uh, I thought I would just..." She pointed at the door, Adalind waved her hand dismissively.

"Nonsense. You're Nick's partner, you can certainly stay for breakfast. You two took a cab, so Nick can take you to the precinct to get your car when he's done upstairs. Sit. Coffee?" She took a mug out of the cupboard, she nodded.

"I'm really sorry, this was not the first impression I wanted to make. Nick can drink like a fish. I usually don't have any trouble keeping up with people." She sat at the table, taking the coffee Adalind brought her.

"That's alright, people underestimate him a lot. He needed to unwind anyway, though I'm not sure drinks with a beautiful woman is the method I would have chosen for him, but it's good for him to have friends here." She went back to the kitchen, scrambling eggs to go with the bacon, and hash browns, because despite her opinion on it, hangovers called for bacon. Róta blushed, stirring the cream in her coffee.

"You're not what I expected a hexenbiest to be like." She mumbled, Adalind doled out the eggs, and brought her a plate.

"Unless you're on my bad side I never will be. Nick." She smiled, setting a place for him at the head of the table. He groaned at the sight of bacon, popping three pieces into his mouth as he sat down.

"No bacon for you?" Róta frowned, looking down at her portion.

"Adalind doesn't like bacon." He mumbled through a mouth full of food. Despite how he woke up he felt good. Refreshed. He accepted that things with Juliette couldn't be fixed, and he could tell his mother as much.

"What? How is that even possible?" She watched her sit down like she had grown another head, which she had not. That would be a very complicated spell.

"Too much salt, and grease. I am a potatoes girl all the way." She punctuated her statement by taking a bite of hash browns.

"Okay, so if we're going to talk about insane, impossible things, Nick tells me he knew a Grimm. Did you ever meet him?" Róta leaned forward to tuck into her food. A Cheshire smile spread across her lips, her eyes going to Nick.

"Intimately." She leaned into her hand, blinking coyly at him. He glared at her, but said nothing. Róta nearly fell off her chair.

"You slept with a Grimm? That had to be terrifying!" She gasped, Adalind shrugged dragging her fingers up the column of her neck.

"Not really, a little rough, but I like that don't I?" She licked her lips, there was that erection he'd thought he'd gotten rid of.

"We should get to work." Nick got up to wash his dishes, completely unable to endure this conversation.

"I should get Diana up any way. You two have a good day." She got up, and kissed his cheek, setting her dish with his. He turned to watch her walk away, the little extra away in her hips. Róta laughed, coming over to pat him on the shoulder.

"I completely understand what you see in her now." Róta watched her go too, Nick shook his head, he had to go to work.

"Nick! Nick, look!" Adalind yelled as soon as she heard the door open, he ran into the living room, worried she was in danger. 

"Is she walking on her own?" Nick crouched down as Diana toddled towards him. She looked up at him briefly.

"What? No, I'm holding her up, but she's taking her weight on her legs." She let her go when she got to Nick, and he caught her with ease.

"You're doing so good! Pretty soon you're going to be chasing down bad guys for me." Nick lifted her up in the air, making her giggle.

"Alright, let's get you to bed." Adalind closed the distance between them. Nick went back to the entry way to retrieve the take out he'd brought home with him. He sat down on the couch, opening his computer to watch some mindless movie to help him unwind. The case they caught today had been rough, and he'd begged off sending the email.

"If we're going to watch something with witches at least go with Hocus Pocus, or Stardust, something better than Practical Magic." Adalind slid down on the couch beside him, grabbing a box of pork fried rice.

"What's wrong with practical magic, it's even a romance." He tried not to spit out rice in his indignation.

"They got everything wrong. A spell can't bring you true love, and it certainly can't resurrect a guy, only to kill him with a badge. Once someone is dead, they're dead. Not to mention the curse, you can't curse a family line, if you could everyone would have one. It's hard enough to curse one person. Then they get roughed up by a zombie alone bullk. They're pathetic. It's almost as bad as the Blair Witch Project, though witches aside it is a much better plot." She tucked her feet under his leg, holding her food with her knees to get her wine. She was so happy to be able to drink again.

"I'll give you the Blair Witch Project, but I stand by Practical Magic, it's one of the few romance movies I can get through." He slid the computer towards her, she rolled her eyes.

"Okay, let's watch Brothers Grimm then." She pulled it up, he made a face, but didn't stop her.

"We should watch all the bad witch, and Grimm movies. Making fun of them is half the fun. " Nick plucked an egg roll from a box. She could admit to that, so she pulled up a couple other movies before starting one.

"How many actors do you think are wesen?" Nick hadn't had time to watch many movies since he had become a Grimm, but he knew he could see a woge on film.

"A lot, but wogeing on screen is a good way to get your head cut off." Adalind gestured to a background actor she knew was wesen.

"Makes sense I suppose. What are you doing?" Nick looked down at her when she moved to lay her head on his lap.

"Watching a movie, what are you doing?" She didn't look up at him, he put his arm on the back of the couch to keep it off her.

"There's no one here, you don't have to pretend you want to be close to me." He set his food aside, she finally looked up at him.

"Nick. In case it escaped your notice you're all I've got. I have spent all day, every day for two weeks with you, and Diana. I can't go out to a bar, and pick someone up if I'm lonely. If I can't get my rocks off with you, I can't get them off at all. You're going to have to endure some platonic cuddling. I mean... Unless I'm making you uncomfortable." She backpedaled when she realized how forward she was being. She didn't have the luxury of making mistakes with him any more. If he pushed her away she couldn't actually go anywhere.

"Platonic." He said firmly, letting his hand drift down to rest on her shoulder. She smiled, settling back in to watch the movie. Eventually his hand started to move, drawing absent patterns over the soft fabric of her sleep shirt. It was good, easy even, and for the first time he didn't feel guilty for being relaxed with her. She needed comfort, and so did he, what other options did they have?

Eventually he settled further into the couch, and she leaned on his chest, both of them falling asleep on the small couch. They woke to the sound of Diana crying. Nick gave her arm a squeeze.

"I've got this, you go." He gestured to the mess in front of them with a yawn. She nodded, stretching against him before she got up. When they climbed into bed he found himself draping an arm over her waist. She didn't complain, so he left it there.

Settling into the new routine with Adalind felt easy. Small touches, and simple comforts were almost natural for him, even if she wasn't the person he would normally do these things with. Sending the email shutting Juleitte down was proving to be a bit more difficult. He did the right thing, but closing the door entirely felt too much like goodbye. He knew he wouldn't see her again for a long time, maybe ever, but the possibility had still existed.

M

It's not safe for her to have it. Tell her I'm sorry.

N 

His finger hovered over the enter key. It didn't feel like enough, or maybe it was too much. Was he sorry? He was sorry she got hurt. Sorry this would hurt her again even, but was he sorry he left? His mother would have left Adalind the second she threatened their cover. She might have left her sooner. His plan had so many more moving parts, maybe her way would have been safer. Any regret he had died every time he saw Adalind with Diana though. 

She cared for her like any good mother would. She loved Diana so much, and it reflected in her smile, in the way she carried her on her hip, or floated her blocks for her. She risked everything to be with her daughter. Nick couldn't be sorry for helping her. If he were to be truly honest the person he missed the most from Portland wasn't Juliette. He missed Monroe. If he were here Nick could talk all this out with him.

M 

It's not safe for her to have it.

N

Send. He wasn't going to be sorry for doing the right thing anymore. A huge weight dropped from his shoulders now that it was done. It was sad, but it was behind him now. His phone buzzed on his desk.

"Nick Kessler." He answered without checking to see who it was.

"Nick!" It sounded like she was struggling with something. Nick sat up, a bolt of dread shooting through him.

"Adalind? What's wrong?" He got up, heading for the elevator before she had a chance to answer.

"I'm having a bit of a Grimm problem, and I don't mean your mother." She gasped, followed by a thud.

"Adalind!" He got out to his truck, pulling on to the road before he'd even shut the door.

"Damn it, stop! Ow, there, stay!" She sounded muffled. "Nick, I'm okay, I just dropped my phone. She's wyle. I think you should probably come home sooner rather than later. I don't know how long I can keep her tied to a chair." Nick sighed, taking the time to buckle up.

"I'm already on my way. I'll be ten minutes, max." He hung up, tossing his phone in the passenger seat. He pressed the gas down to the floor. He was getting out before he'd fully stopped in the driveway, not bothering with the garage.

"Adalind!" He burst through the door, the living room, and kitchen were a mess of broken dishes, and splinters of wood. It would seem the coffee table had been sacrificed to the struggle.

"In here!" She called from the dining room. Nick found her standing across from a black haired girl in a leather jacket, who had been very thoroughly tied to a chair.  
"Stay away from me! She's a monster!" The girl snarled, struggling against her restraints. Nick frowned, looking between them.

"She can be, did you really have to tie her up?" He leaned back against the counter next to Adalind.

"Yes! She broke into our house, and when I found her she tried to cut my head off! I feel pretty justified here. If Diana hadn't been upstairs I might not have been so nice." Adalind gave him a look, he tilted his head, he could admit things could be worse.

"So you're a Grimm?" Nick moved closer to the girl, she lashed out, he moved out of the way without much effort.

"No! Back off! What kind of monster are you?" She spit at him, he shook his head.  
"You're a Grimm, and so am I. Do you know what that means?" He grabbed one of the other chairs, sitting across from her.

"It doesn't mean anything! It's just something they say sometimes before they try to kill me! " She was angry, but she was also afraid, he could definitely relate to that.

"We're not going to hurt you, but it does mean something. The things your seeing, they're real. I see them too." He tried to hold her gaze, but she kept looking around for some way to escape them.

"No, no one can see them! Just me." She had started to give way to the fear in her voice. 

"You want to grab one of the books." He looked up at Adalind, she sighed leaving him to deal with her.

"Do you know what a wesen is?" He leaned back, trying to catch any recognition in her expression, but it didn't seem to know anything.

"The things you see, they're wesen. Adalind is a wesen, a hexenbiest specifically. Can you tell me why you broke into our house?" He tried a different approach, she looked over at the kitchen where the fridge could just barely be seen around the half wall that connected to the island.

"Have you eaten today?" She looked back at Adalind as she entered, he frowned, holding a hand out for the book without looking at her.

"Could you make some of that delicious bolognese of yours, I don't think she's had anything to eat for a while?" Nick whispered , Adalind squeezed his shoulder, going to the kitchen. He leaned forward, holding the book between them.

"I want to show you this, but first I need you to know that Adalind and I aren't going to hurt you. If I untie you can you promise me the same?" He watched the confusion flit across the expression.

"Sure whatever." She mumbled, Nick examined the very complicated knots briefly.  
"Adalind, can you get this off her?" Nick called, she popped her head in with a scowl, but waved her hand at the chair. The rope fell slack, and trouble immediately threw it off, getting to her feet.

"Calm down, here." He handed her the book, she looked as though she might rabbit without even opening it, but after a second she cracked the spine, setting it on the table.

"What is all this?" She flicked her gaze back at him for half a second before returning to the book.

"The truth, that no one has ever told you before, I have more in the trailer if... Okay." He took a step back as she shoved through him to get to the trailer.

"She better not let the neighbors see her." Adalind pointed a spoon at him, he grimaced, chasing after her. He found her pouring over the books on the table.

"What do you mean this is the truth?" She flipped through the pages frantically, she had an air of desperation.

"It's my truth too, like I said, I see what you do." He approached her slowly, not sure how stable this girl was at this point.

"No, you can't!"

"Everything in these books, I can see too. I've seen Hundjäger, blutbad, fuchsbau, klaustreich, they're all real." He pointed to the pictures as he flipped through the books with her.

"You really see all this too." She whispered, he nodded, running his hands over the worn page detailing hexenbiest.

"I do, I thought I was going crazy when I first saw Adalind, but I had someone to explain to me what a Grimm was. You said they call you that." Nick wanted to reach for her, but he didn't want to scare her off.

"Some of them did, I didn't know what that meant." She looked up at him, and away from the pages that held the images of what she saw.

"That's why Adalind didn't let you leave, it's dangerous for a Grimm in this neighborhood, I want to explain to you what it does mean." He tapped the book over the entry he'd made so long ago, about stealing her powers.

"Tell me." Her lip quivered, and he worried she might start to cry.

"The first, and most important thing to know is that not all wesen are bad. Just like regular people, some of them are dangerous, and that's why we exist, but most of them are just normal people." Nick said, looking back at the door where Adalind, and Diana were living peacefully with a Grimm.

"You mean your wife? A hexenbiest, that's what you said. Her face got all corpse like, so you actually find that attractive?" She made a face, he chuckled, he'd said nearly the same thing to Renard.

"Yes, and this entire neighborhood. Howling Oaks is a wesen community, and they don't know I'm a Grimm. We're like the boogeyman to wesen, not all of us differentiate between innocent, and dangerous wesen. That's why they attack, they're scared of you." He said, she made a face at him.

"The boogeyman? Cool." She seemed pleased to have some power over the things she'd been running from. Adalind knocked on the door to the trailer, but didn't risk sticking her head in.

"You hungry?" She held tension in her shoulders, keeping herself on Nick's side of the door. He looked up at the girl, she went wide eyes at the prospect of food.

"Do you like spaghetti?" Nick asked, she took a book with her as she rushed   
towards the kitchen.

"No, I love spaghetti!" She told them, Adalind cringed away from her as she went by. Nick put a hand on her shoulder when he came out of the trailer.

"Are you okay?" He looked her over while she wrapped her arms around herself. 

"I'm fine. She was in the fridge when I came down. I think she thought the house was empty. I woged when I saw her, I thought she was with the royals." He pulled her into a hug, she sagged against him, fisting her hands in the soft fabric of his shirt.

"She needs someone who can explain this to her. She has no idea what she's doing. I can't imagine how hard this has been for her." He pulled back enough to look at her, she rolled her eyes.

"You want to keep her, don't you?" He had the good grace to look sheepish, she sighed, covering his left hand on her shoulder.

"She'll need one of these. We can't have the whole neighbourhood knowing we've got a Grimm in the house." He smiled, letting her go so they could get to the kitchen and make sure she hadn't bolted.

"Thank you for understanding." He whispered, they found her eating out of the serving dish with her fingers.


	8. Trubel in Paradise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trubel learns what it's like to have friends.

"You keep that bowl, and maybe try this, so you don't burn your fingers." Adalind handed her a fork, filling Nick's and her own plate from the pot.

"Sorry, I'm not used to eating with people. This is really freaking delicious!" She sat at the far end of the table, stuffing noodles into her mouth while she spoke.

"Thank you. I'm Adalind, and this is Nick, what should we call you? " Adalind knew Nick would run a background check on her anyway, but they needed something to call her during dinner.

"People call me Trubel." She took a second to suck down half a glass of water before tucking back into her food.

"How delightfully appropriate. Nick told you I'm a hexenbiest, do you understand what that means?" She wiped her mouth delicately, looking I've at Nick. He had such hope in his eyes, she hadn't realized how much he must miss having people he could count on. As much as she tried to be there for him, he rightfully had his doubts.

"I saw it in that book, you've got like a zombie face. You did it when you tossed me around." She looked up just long enough to acknowledge her.

"No, it's more like mummification. Dry, and dead, not wet, or fleshy. If you see a wasan that looks like that cut their head off. It's somnum mortis, which is a wesen disease, kind of like rabies. Did you want to see?" She set her fork down to watch Trubel's rection. She nodded, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand.

"Try not to overreact. It's just me." She tilted her head, her jaw cracking as her hair turned white, and her skin pulled back against her bones. Trubel flinched, but she didn't attack her, so that was progress. She reached out, and Adalind leaned across to let her touch the cracked, leather like skin.

"That's insane. You feel dead, but you're warm. Does it hurt?" Trubel absently shoveled pasta into her mouth. Adalind shook it off, smiling at them.

"A little, you get used to it. It feels like popping a joint back into place." She said, Nick tilted his head in silent intrigue. He'd never thought to ask that.

"You can see that I'm a Grimm too. How?" She scraped the bottom of the huge bowl, licking sauce off her fingers.

"It's your eyes, when we woge, which is what I just did, they turn black, like the void, and reflect our true nature. It's fairly disconcerting." She looked over at Nick, he smiled, hoping he looked reassuring. He likes that she could help explain all this, Nick certainly didn't know where to start.

"Cool." Trubel touched the corner of her eye briefly.

"Can you see Nick's eyes? I've never known if you guys could see each other." Trubel and Nick shook their heads, she frowned.

"Well we can only see them when we woge." Adalind looked up at the ceiling at the sound of Diana crying.

"You want me to get her?" Nick followed her gaze, she shook her head, patting his hand as she got up.

"You two have a kid?" Trubel looked intrigued, and concerned. It had been a bit of a shock to see the everyday lives of wesen for him too.

"Diana. She's still pretty young." Nick held a hand out to take her dish, she looked around at the mess.

"I can help clean up. I didn't know, I mean I figured I could get some food, maybe some cash, and I'd move on." Trubel gestured to the broken dishes, and splintered table.

"Sure, I'll get gloves, and a box for all this glass." Nick crouched by the sink, pulling out the big yellow gloves Adalind had used to clean when they first moved in. They made quick work of the mess, and eventually Adalind came back down, carrying Diana on her hip.

"Look Diana, this is our new friend Trubel. I fixed up the guest bedroom, but there's still only one bathroom. I was going to give this little girl a bath if either of you need to use it." Adalind bounced Diana gently, she giggled grabbing at Adalind with her sticky hands.

"I'm good. How long have you two been married, because this all seems super normal, you know, for a Grimm?" Trubel eyed the baby like it might explode. Nick looked at Adalind, a silent question in his stare.

"Really?" She put her free hand on her hip, furrowing her brow at him. He tilted his head, she groaned, throwing her head back.

"Fine, but if this explodes you have to do the packing." Adalind turned and stormed off, Nick smiled, watching her go.

"Uh, what the hell was that? She can't read minds can she?" Trubel tossed the last dustpan full of glass in the bin.

"No, but our situation is a bit more complicated than it seems. Come on, let's go out to the trailer, you can look through anything you want while I explain." It took quiet some time to get through it all, but having a Grimm that could really help him would be more than worth it.

"Wait, so you're not married, or anything. Do you guys bone, because you look like a married couple?" She still didn't seem to quite believe they weren't together, the rest of it had been easy enough for her.

"Not generally. We're hiding from some very dangerous people." Nick tried not to blush as the memory of his night with her filtered into the forefront of his mind.  
"Yeah, but you two clearly want each other. How do you deal with that indefinitely if you're not actually married?" She said, if anyone had told him that he would ever be close enough to Adalind for people to assume they were together a year ago, he would have punched them in the face.

"It's not like that. We're both here to keep Diana safe. That's it. Come on, let me show you to your room." Nick got up to avoid the rabbit hole that was this conversation.

"If you say so." She followed him to the guest room, and he let her use the restroom first. Adalind was waiting for him in her comfy sleep clothes that made her look soft, and vulnerable. 

"How did it go? We don't need to bury a body do we?" She set her book down on her lap, he sat on the edge of the bed to take his boots off.

"No, she refuses to believe we're not sleeping together, but other than that she seems on board." He dropped his boots with a heavy thump, and tossed his socks towards the hamper. 

"Well." She gestured to his part of the bed, the blanket already turned down for him, he gave her a look, because she knew what he meant.

"I don't want to take her with me tomorrow, I don't need Róta finding out about her, but I do want to run her through the system. Do you think you can make her one of these?" Nick wiggled the wedding band that had begun to feel like a part of his hand, he could hardly remember to take it off when he showered.

"Sure. I need more stinging nettles, and thistle milk, but I get that from the garden, which despite looking a mess is actually full of some very useful things. I think I'm going to start weeding it out, and thinning it back." She picked up her book to show him the cover, it was on local plants.

"I really appreciate you doing this. You could have killed her when she attacked you." Nick set his sidearm on the nightstand with his badge.

"I could have, I almost did, but she didn't know what she was. Hexenbiests, if they're orphaned, they turn really bad. I mean psychopathic tendencies, and megalomania. I can't imagine how hard it would be to see us, to be hunted by us, and not even know why. I remember how you looked at me in the hospital, you were so confused. I could have killed you too." She tilted her head towards him, he looked back, raising a brow at her, but he couldn't deny the truth of what she said.

"Yeah well, you were my first you know." He pulled his shirt off, tossing it after his socks. She took a minute to appreciate his bare chest.

"Your first what?" She gave him a coy little smile, he chuckled.

"My first woge. You scared the hell out of me." He got up, going to brush his teeth now that he could hear Trubel in the guest room.

"You scared the hell out of me. I'd never seen a Grimm. I guess you were my first too. I wish I'd never told Sean about you." She joined him in the bathroom to start her own evening routine, he spit out his toothpaste.

"What do you mean? " He made space for her at the sink, handing her toothbrush over. 

"If I hadn't told him you were a Grimm he never would have asked me to kill your aunt, and when we met on that case I would have been just another wesen to you. You would have saved my life, and I wouldn't have had to hurt Hank, because Sean wouldn't know you had anything to do with the key. I don't know, maybe we could have just been friends, the way you are with Monroe, and Roaslee." Adalind stared at herself in the mirror, a look of introspection crossing the soft features of her face.

"I don't know, I think Juliette still would have hated you." Nick bent down to rinse his mouth out, spitting out the mint flavoured water.

"What? Why? We got along fine, before you know, I stole her memories." Adalind brushed her teeth a tad more aggressively than normal.

"Yeah, as he patient, and Hank's ex, it would have been different if you were my friend that I got drinks with when I had a hard case, or who brought me take out at the precinct, because I forgot to eat." She smiled that he though that would be the kind of friends they would have been. She would have to remember to drop in with food when he worked late. It would be good for there cover.

"Juliette would have been jealous... Of me?" Nick looked her up and down, then shot a look back at the bed, much like Adalind had when he talked about Trubel's opinion of them. Adalind grinned, preening her hair that extra bit before she tied it up.

"The fact that my girlfriend... " Nick tossed his toothbrush in the cup next to the sink.

"Ex-girlfriend. " Adalind cut him off, he rolled his eyes.

"Would have hated you should not make you so happy." He went over to the toilet, lifting the seat. He gave her a look, she left long enough for him to finish his business, and get in the shower before coming back to spit out her toothpaste.

"I like making people jealous, Lord knows I don't get to do a lot of that here." She kept talking to him, picking up his abandoned pants with the soft black boxer briefs still tangled in them, and tossing them in the hamper.

"You know you don't have to stay in the house all day. Now that Truble's here you might want to show her the neighborhood, but even by yourself I don't think you'll be in much danger in Howling Oaks." His voice muffled under the sound of the water, he wiped it from his eyes, looking at the form of her on the other side of the smoked glass.

"I suppose. It just feels safer here. I go shopping, and things, but I'm not exactly social by nature." She said, Nick may have been a bit more thorough in the washing of his bits than he normally would have with her swinging her hips just on the other side of the glass from his naked body. 

"Well we can hit the pool on my next day off, the sight of you in a swimsuit should make lots of people jealous." The turned the water to cold briefly so he could safely get out. She held a towel out towards the door, and he dried off before wrapping it around his waist to get out.

"Aw, you say the sweetest things." She turned away from him before he could see her blush, going to get in bed. 

"I'm going to stay up, I think Trouble wants our help, but you can never tell." He leaned towards the mirror, trying to decide if he wanted to shave yet. He didn't keep up with it very well since the move.

"She's not used to staying in one place. I wouldn't trust us." Adalind snuggles down into the blankets, but it didn't feel the same without Nick beside her. Nick went down to wait in the living room. He didn't have to wait long before she tried to sneak out.

"You could spend the night in a jail cell if you'd prefer. I am a cop too, so that could be arranged." Nick spoke from the darkness just beside the stairs, she jumped looking over at him, clutching her bag.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, he sighed, moving closer to her.

"Because I had people to help me, and I don't know if I would have made it without them. You won't make it out there alone, and I could use another Grimm around." He said, she nodded, fidgeting on the bottom step.

"I'm not going to force you to stay, but I really hope you do." He patted her shoulder as he went past her to go to bed. Adalind rolled over to press closer to him, and he wrapped his arm around her thin waist.

"Will she stay?" She mumbled, half asleep already.

"I think so." He closed his eyes, whatever she chose, he was glad Adalind had brought him home early.

Nick had left for work, and Diana was happily playing with her toys by the time Truble woke up. Adalind smiled, pulling the cover off the tray of cinnamon rolls she'd made, from a tube, not from scratch, she didn't have that much free time.

"Happy to see you're still around." She offered her a pastry, she happily took two of them, one for each hand. Adalind set a plate out, and poured a glass of milk for her.

"Yeah, well, Nick wanted to show me the ropes, and after fighting you I figure maybe I don't know as much as I should." She said through a mouth full of food. 

"You're right about that, I'm not the scariest thing out there. If you're going to stay though, I need to make you a shroud." She sat down at the table with her, sipping at her coffee. Trubel gave her a look of confusion.

"It's to hide your eyes, there are a lot of wesen here, and I don't want to find out what they'll do if they find out we have a Grimm in our house." She lifted a hand to save the blocks that Diana had begun throwing out of her playpen. She giggled, doing it again. Adalind suspected she just liked when thing would float.

"You want me to wear like a veil, or something, because I've got sunglasses." Trubel scolded around a huge bite of her pastry.

"No, it's a spell. Nick has his on his wedding ring. It should go on something you can wear all the time. It won't obstruct your vision in any way, but it will stop wesan from realising what you are. It's a real edge in a fight." She may not be a lawyer any more, but she still knew how to entice someone with what they would want to hear.

"That's cool, it's not gonna explode if I take whatever it is off though right?" She had a head for these kinds of questions, Nick hadn't even thought to ask about the consequences of removing it.

"No. The worst thing that might happen is that it could give you a headache for a while. I have a few bits of jewelry you can pick from, or we could go buy something. I need to get new clothes for Diana anyway. She's growing like a weed." Adalind got up to go to her, moving the pen so she could sit on the floor beside her.

"I don't want to impose." She got up to toss her dishes in the sink.

"I don't know what Nick told you about the people after us, but they only want my baby, having a Grimm come with me on a shopping trip would actually be a big help." Adalind scooped Diana up, going to get her purse.

"I guess if you need my help." Trubel set her plate up to dry, and followed her towards the door. She put her backpack on, Adalind didn't miss that feeling, like any time she went out could be the last time she came back to a place.

"You should wear your sunglasses, we're going to stop by a friend's house first, and they're wesen." She put Diana in her stroller, and started towards the Crowe house across the street, she didn't need her crawling around in Derek's workshop.  
"What do I say if they ask why I have them on inside?" She stuck them on her face as she asked, looking around the sunny suburbs.

"I would suggest that you have a hang over." She frowned at the metal gate briefly before knocking on the door frame loudly.

"I'm around back, come through the fence!" Derek yelled, Adalind turned to pull the stroller through the grass. The gate swung open without a problem , but she could see the heavy bar lock that would be in place if he were inside.

"I hope we're not interrupting." Adalind smiled at him, leaving Diana outside the threshold of his sweltering workshop.

"No, Lena is at her camp for the week, so I could use the company. Who's this?" Derek wiped his hands on a wet rag, but it did little more than dirty the fabric.

"This is Trubel, Nick's cousin on his mother's side. She's staying with us for a while. I was actually wondering if you made jewlery." She scanned the array of oddities hanging in his workshop.

"Of course, with a wife who loves shiney things do you really think I could get away with not making jewelry. I've mostly got rings, but there are a few necklaces that Lena made the molds for." Derek rolled a toolbox towards the door, pulling open one of the thin drawers to reveal a tray of rings, and pendants.

"You looking for anything in particular?" He pulled a couple more open before he found the second tray.

"Silver would be best, but anything without iron will work." She told him, picking through the options.

"None of these then. What kind of charm are you putting on it, because gold tends to melt." He closed the upper drawer, Trubel picked up a simple woven silver band.  
"Just a simple protection spell." She waved his concern away.

"That's my wife's favorite design. There are two rings that lock together, when you pull them apart." Derek twisted one of the bands, moving them apart. "It has a wire saw in it. That's why it's so thick." Trubel went wide eyed, pulling it out as far as it would go.

"How much? " Adalind pulled a wallet out of her purse, Derek waved her off.

"I don't want your money. I'm sure Lena has something she will want charmed at some point. We'll figure it out. Make sure you oil that, and keep it clean." Trubel nodded, she slid the ring on, pulling it apart, and letting it snap back with a little grin.

"Thank you. Come on, we should get going so we'll have time to shop." Adalind ushered Trubel out of the backyard.

"This is really cool!" Trubel smiled, Adalind chuckled, opening the door with her foot to get Diana back inside.

"I'll charm the side you keep on when you pull it out, that way even if you break it the charm will still work." Adalind lead her through the house to the shed in the back.

"That's smart, you're pretty cool when you're not throwing me through stuff. I can see why Nick likes you." Trubel watched her open the invisible door, trying to find an angle that would let her see it.

"Trubel, Nick and I aren't together." She pulled Diana out of her stroller, gesturing for Trubel to take it for her.

"You're telling me that you two sleep in the same bed, and are fake married, but don't even fool around?" She stumbled as she got to the last step, too distracted by the impressive laboratory to watch her footing.

"Nick unfortunately respects me too much to just fool around, not to mention he's still in love with someone else." Adalind dusted off the stroller Trubel had dropped, setting Diana back in it. She couldn't risk her playing with anything down here.

"That's rough, but you two are friends right?" She grabbed the bottles as Adalind pointed at them, watching her fill up a couldron about half way with water.

"If course. We weren't always, but I'm pretty sure we are at this point." She was so sure when she started, but as she spoke she realized she didn't actually know if that was true.

"Do you love him?" She sniffed at the bottle she held, regretting it immediately, and almost sneezing in it.

"What? Me love, no, I mean, no, that would just be too tragic." Adalind blushed, trying to focus on precise measurement, and not the uncomfortable realization that it wasn't impossible that her answer was yes.

"Yeah, okay. So whose this chick that he's still so in love with?" She held out the eye dropper, Adalind held up two fingers, letting Trubel add two drops.

"Her name is Juliette. She's a veterinarian, they dated for six years, mostly. I don't think they really broke up when he left. I still don't even completely understand why he came with me, or us. I think he was just upset the Juliette didn't want kids with him, and now he can't go back, because it's not safe, but I know he wishes he could. I'm sure they'd work it out if he did." Adalind didn't realize how bitter she felt that he still wanted to go back, she didn't want to force him to be here. She wanted him to want to be with her.

"Juliette, like Romeo, and Juliette, that's so corny. This chick sounds like a total bitch, you don't just run off with a hot blonde, and her kid for no reason." Trubel picked through bottles, cringing when she came across things that had human, or wesen in them.

"Exactly! She always made him feel like being a Grimm, and the danger that comes with it was his fault, and he didn't even trust her enough to tell her he was a Grimm until he thought I was trying to kill her, which I wasn't trying to do, that's a long story, the point is if she had just trusted him all it would have taken to fix her was a little sex, but no. They were a mess, but for some reason he still loved her. I mean she was nice, and pretty, but she had a weird eye, and she just wanted to make him normal." The rant escaped her in one long breath, so much for being the bigger person.

"You cursed her? Did you like give her boils on her face, or make her slap anyone who said the?" Trubel chuckled, flipping through one of her books. Adalind smiled, it felt good to vent to someone who didn't think Juliette shit sunshine.

"No, Nick and I were sort of on opposite sides for a while. I cursed his partner to try and get this key for my boss, Sean, who I was in love with. Instead of giving me the key he stole my power with his blood. He took everything from me, so I wanted to do the same. I put her in a kind of snow white esc coma, that took her memories of Nick. Sean woke her up, and they were obsessed with each other for a while. Sort of a fuck you to Sean and Nick. We put that aside for Diana, but I wish I'd never gone down that road." For a murderous delinquent Trubel was very easy to talk to.

"Still, it has to feel good, knowing that even without your powers you could do some damage. Did you lose you woge, and everything? How would that work? Can you do that to other wesen?" Trubel stopped her exploration of the strange lab bottles to come look over her shoulder at the mixture.

"It did at the time, and yes I did. Hexenbiest are unique among the wesen, his blood killed my hexenbiest, but linked us together, it's dangerous for him too. I went through a horrible ritual to get my powers back, and if I wanted to I could use my new power to steal his, obviously I won't, but the point is it's dangerous. Other wesen don't work like that, so no for the most part you can't take their power." Adalind added Trubel's blood, and held her hand out for her ring, Trubel slid it off, handing it to her. She pulled the wire taught, and dipped the main ring into the mixture.

"Nick said this part hurt, but it's okay, it just means it's working. Hold your hand out, and close your eyes." She used her power to slide the ring on, and wiped the mixture over her eyes. She really did wish it wasn't quite so sticky.

"It burns, but it's not that bad. Can I wipe it off?" Trubel held her hands near her face, obviously hoping Adalind would say yes.

"Unfortunately no. It will soak in pretty quickly, don't worry." Adalind washed her hands, and started cleaning up.

"Well that sucked, hey, are you okay?" The smell of pouring everything down the drain had made her a little lightheaded. She really hoped she wasn't about to throw up down here.

"I'm fine, just queasy, this charm stinks so much." She waved off her concern, Trubel held the door open so Adalind could take Diana up to get some air. 

"It's definitely not the best thing I've ever smelled, did you need to like sit down before we go anywhere?" She pulled the stroller up, and closed the door, watching it disappear with fascination.

"No, I'll call us a cab, Diana's not going to get any smaller." Adalind put Diana in the stroller so they could walk to the gate.

"So these houses are all owned by wesen?" Trubel watched a couple run by in matching jogging shorts.

"Wesen, or kehrseite-schlich-kennen. Humans who know about us." She whispered, she didn't need anyone hearing them.

"So how do I tell which is which?" She turned to look at a large man mowing his lawn. Adalind slapped her shoulder to get her to stop staring at people.

"You don't, unless they woge, some wesen can smell it, and I can sense power, but it's not an exact science. Stop staring, it's rude." She scolded her, Trubel looked down at her boots, sheepishly.

"Sorry, I'm not used to knowing things before hand." They made it to the gate, and a cab was waiting for them. 

"Why are we going in here? I thought you needed baby clothes." Trubel frowned at the little boutique Adalind ushered her into.

"I do, I also need the girl staying in my house not to look like a drifter. I'm getting you new boots, and a few changes of clothes. It's not charity, so don't get all defensive. This is for me. I'm under cover, if you look shifty, so do I." She waved off her concerns, holding up a shirt towards Trubel with a scrutinizing look.

"Okay, I guess. I just don't want to get used to all this." She lifted her foot to look at the hole in her boot.

"I promise not to be too nice, now get your butt over here, and try these on." Adalind held up an arm full of clothes. How had she picked so many out so fast?  
"I don't know if these are my style." Trubel shied away from the clothes, Adalind grabbed a pair of heavy boots.

"They're stretchy, durable, and dark enough not to show blood, if they aren't your style, they should be. We can pick something else if you want though." She gestured to the rest of the store, Trubel snatched the clothes, and boots. She trudged over to the fitting room.


	9. Obligatory Beach (pool) Episode

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They spend some time at the pool, getting closer.

Trubel fit in to their little family easy enough, she and Nick spent all his free time in the trailer, or wandering the neighborhood picking out different wesen. It was like having a training camp in her living room.

"Okay, I was promised a day at the pool, I even bought us all swimsuits. Now you two pull yourselves away from the books for two seconds, because you're coming with me." Adalind pointed at both of them from the threshold of the trailer.

"Right now? We're kind of in the middle of..." She held her hand up to stop Nick from making an excuse.

"Is someone going to die if you take a few hours to enjoy this beautiful day?" She crossed her arms, watching them shuffle uncomfortably, trying to decide if they could push it.

"Well no, but knowing this stuff could..." She cut him off again, holding out a bag.

"I don't want to hear it. Being a Grimm does not mean you can't have fun, now put these on, and we are going to the pool. If it helps we can sun, and pick out wesen while we're there. Think of it like a training session, but with water, and pineapple juice." She tossed the bag at Nick, and left the trailer. He pulled out a black and red one piece with no back.

"I really hope that's for you." Nick gave it to Trubel, digging out a pair of navy blue swim trunks. They shared a look, but went to get ready as commanded. Adalind had a light grey wrap that she wore while they made their way to the community pool.

"You know, I don't think I've worn shorts since I became a Grimm." Nick grumbled at his very pale legs.

"Don't forget sunscreen than." Adalind went to the chairs still free in the corner, there were a few people already out. Kids swimming, and parents trying to read, or nap in the brief moment of peace it created. Adalind took a bottle of sunscreen from her bag, rubbing it in to Diana's chubby little legs.

"Me too, this thing is ridiculous." Trubel held a hand out for sunscreen. Nick took the bottle, so they could both lather up. Adalind stood, slipping out of her wrap to reveal a tiny white bikini. Nick nearly choked on his own tongue at the sight of her.

"Will you get my back?" She laid out in her stomach, Nick ran his hand over her shoulders, down her arms, and back up to move down the dip of her spine. She hummed in approval as his large hands worked against her skin. Nick swallowed hard, trying to think of something other than how soft, and willing she was against him.

"Don't forget my legs." She wiggled her hips, drawing his eyes to the cleft of her ass that stuck out just under the soft fabric of her bikini. He started at her feet, rubbing his thumb into her arches, and back up her calves slowly.

"Are you going to be at that all day, because I kind of thought we were going to talk about wesen?" Trubel rolled her eyes at them, Adalind glared up at her.

"I don't want to burn, unlike some of us, I take care of my skin." She wiggled under his hands to get him to keep going. He dipped his hands between her thighs, and up over her ass, his fingers slipping under the fabric of her suit.

"Done. I'm going to teach Diana how to swim." Nick scooped Diana up, practically running for the pool.

"I think you broke him." Trubel said as Adalind turned over to get her front. Adalind smirked, watching him bobbing Diana up and down at the surface of the water with her little ducky water wings.

"I was trying to, but someone is a great big cock block. How am I supposed to seduce my husband if you keep taking up all his free time?" Adalind leaned back, pointing to one of the people off handedly.

"Blutbad right? Sorry if I'm in the way, I know you guys kind of had a routine down, it's just so nice to learn this stuff." Trubel pulled the pineapple juice out of the cooler Adalind had made her bring.

"You're not in the way, he is. Having you here has been really good for him though. He's more relaxed than he ever was with just us. Now how about her?" She looked at the cougar in a sun hat eyeing Nick.

"Hexenbiest, for sure. I really appreciate you guys taking me in, but I can't keep mooching off you." Trubel pulled at the fabric of her swim suit. Adalind sat up, puting her hand over Trubel's gently.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that. I know Nick won't like it, but I wanted to ask you to do something for us." Trubel sat up with a smirk, ignoring the families happily playing in the sun, in hopes that there might be monsters to kill.

"Of course, I'd do anything for you guys." She said, Adalind bit her lip, looking over at Nick, who currently had Diana on his chest while he floated around the deep end.

"I want you to help me look after Diana. I want to be able to go to work, and contribute. I don't like living off Nick any more than you do. Don't get me wrong, he's been great, but I don't like feeling helpless. I'm sure you understand that." Adalind squeezed her hand, trying to keep her voice down with so many people around.

"You want me to baby sit?" Trubel sounded pretty unimpressed by the idea.

"Yes, but it's not just watching Diana. Trubel people want to take her from me. I can't just drop her off at daycare, or get a sitter. I need to know that the person she's with can kill anyone who tried to hurt her. This is a really big deal, I can't trust anyone else." Adalind pleaded with her, she nodded, looking around at the people near them.

"You can trust me. I promise. Have you talked to Nick yet?" She moved back so they didn't look so suspicious.

"Not yet. I wanted to know you were okay with it first." Adalind laid back, enjoying the warmth of the sun soaking into her skin.

Nick had forgotten how much he enjoyed floating around in the pool. Diana certainly loved it, she kept giggling, and splashing any time he let her float in the water. The only problem was Adalind, laying practically naked not fifteen feet from him. He had resolved to stay on the opposite side of the pool from her, hoping she would stay up there.

"Look at this cutie. I don't think we've met. I'm Felicia." A very young strawberry blonde swam up beside him in a bikini even smaller than Adalind's.

"Detective Nick Kessler." He offered her a curt nod, trying to shift away from her. The pool was huge, and there certainly wasn't enough of a crowd for her to have to be so close.

"A detective, wow! That's pretty impressive. I bet you have lots of impressive qualities." She reached out, running her hand down his arm. Nick kicked back, swimming towards the end of the pool where Adalind and Trubel were. He needed out of this conversation immediately.

"I think you might be a little too easily impressed. Hey hun, were you gonna come swim with us?" Nick called up to Adalind, now standing with only his waist under the water. The girl put a hand on his back.

"I can keep you company if she's too busy." She said, Nick gave her a look of panic that almost had Adalind laughing too hard to help. 

"There's my baby!" Adalind sat on the edge of the pool, bracketing Nick with her legs. Unlike any other moment, Nick moved closer to her, pressing his chest to her, and looping an arm around her waist.

"Issues?" She's whispered , kissing his cheek. He picked her up, and carried her deeper into the pool with Diana and himself.

"Yes! She's like twelve." She giggled, wrapping her legs around his waist. She leaned back to take Diana from him, letting herself float while tethered to him.  
"She probably closer to Trubels age." She held Diana out in the water while he pulled them along, enjoying her little giggles.

"That doesn't make me feel better." He grumbled, pushing her down with a hand on her stomach, she sputtered, splashing him, and releasing his waist.  
"Has mean old Daddy taught you how to swim yet?" She poked at Nick's chest while she talked to Diana.

"She is taking to the water like a fish." Nick couldn't help the smile at the idea of being a father, even just acting it out with Adalind. He'd always wanted kids, but it just never seemed like the right time with Juliette.

"Hey, isn't that your partner?" Adalind pointed to the blonde in a steel grey two piece talking to Trubel.

"Yeah, it is. I wonder why she's here." Nick started towards them, Adalind put a hand on his arm when Trubel started to laugh.

"Is she hitting on Trubel?" Adalind pulled him to a stop. 

"You know, I think she is." Nick stared at the pair of them, Adalind moved closer to him, and he slid his arm around her waist without thinking.

"How old is she?" Adalind whispered, Nick tore his eyes away from the scene.  
"I never thought to ask. Younger than me though." He finally shook himself out of his shock, and got them both out of the pool.

"Róta? What are you doing here?" Nick stood over her, feeling tall for the first time since he met her. Adalind sat down next to Trubel with a smile.

"Hey Nick, I didn't expect to see you here. It's family night. We try to get together once a month. My parents are barbecuing with my youngest brother Xander. Adalind, this swimsuit it amazing!" Róta gestured back to the large group mingling around the grill before focusing on in Adalind. She smiled, crossing her legs.

"Thank you Róta. Neither of these two said a thing about it." She puffed up her chest, preening her wet hair while Diana wiggled in her arms, trying to get to Trubel.

"You know you're gorgeous, I don't have to tell you that." Nick found himself reaching out to touch her shoulder, while he looked around at all the other people that didn't need to be told that. Adalind blushed, she had never actually had Nick compliment her without the oh so familiar backhanded addition.

"True, it's still nice to hear." She batted her lashes up at him, handing Diana to Trubel so she could touch his hand.

"With a wife this smoking hot, you better be telling her every day, or else someone else will." Róta flashed Adalind a smile, and Nick frowned.

"First you hit on my cousin, now you're hitting on my wife, are we going to have to have a talk about this?" Nick slid down to sit, pressed against Adalind's mostly bare body. Róta let out a hearty laugh, leaning forward to cuff him on the shoulder.

"I had no idea Trubel was your cousin, and we both know Adalind is crazy about you. Come on, come meet my family." She ushered them up, Adalind had to lean against Nick, her knees a little weak from hearing him call her his wife. Talk about an unexpected kink.

"Nick! Adalind, and this must be Trubel! I heard you like my ring design! You all know Róta, this is Xander, Kiya, Danny, Sam, Sam, and Lenny, our kids." Sam the girl, and Sam the boy bracketed the group of adults all drinking, and eating grilled foods.

"Your kids? They don't look that much younger than you." Nick shook each hand in turn, while Adalind chose to give them a friendly wave.

"The oldest is only seven years younger than us, so you're not wrong, we foster lots of kids, but we usually only adopt older kids, ones who are about to age out of the system. Xander here only moved out three months before you guys showed up. Lena patted the bookish man with a mop of brown hair on the back.

"We all would have been screwed if it weren't for them, so maybe it's not your usual parental relationship, but we're still family." Kiya wrapped an arm around Danny's head, and he easily tossed her into the deep end of the pool.

"Burger, or barbeque?" Derek pointed to the grill, Trubel picked up a plate eagerly.

"Both? " She smiled sheepishly, Derek happily gave her both, pointing to the table spread out with other foods.

"That was actually really fun." Nick talked to her from the shower, since they apparently did that now.

"Of course it was. You need to relax more." Adalind combed through her hair, attempting to untangle what the pool had done.

"I used to do stuff like this all the time, but being a Grimm is time consuming." He held a hand out of the shower, and she passed him a towel.

"That's because you act like you're the only one who can do anything, but look at Róta, and now Trubel. You may be a mighty Grimm, but you're not alone." Adalind turned to let him get out, grabbing his sweats for him.

"You have no idea how nice it is to have another Grimm around. It's kind of strange too, not Trubel, but this." He gestured between them, Adalind raised a brow at him, but her eyes were on the red hue across his shoulders.

"You sun burned your whole back! Why didn't you ask for help with the sunscreen?" She didn't really want to hear how uncomfortable he felt being around her.

"That's the point. It's so odd to think that no matter what I can ask you for help. Sometimes I just don't think about it, but I actually trust you." Nick let her usher him to the bed, she sat behind him, with her knees touching his side.

"Yeah, I never thought we'd be friends when we were busy trying to kill each other. Cold." She warned him, squeezing aloe on to his shoulders.

"Ah! I really did a number didn't I?" He cranes his neck while she meticulously worked the aloe into his skin.

"You did, I guess what we have is different than what I had with my friends too. I don't know that I've ever been able to trust anyone before. " Adalind paused, her hands lingering in his back for a moment before she shook herself out of it.

"Really? Not even Sean?" Nick dipped to the side to catch her eye, she put more aloe on her hands to finish what she started.

"No, I loved him, but he never loved me. I'm a hexenbiest, we don't garner a lot of trust. How am I supposed to trust people that don't trust me?" She wiped her hand over her arms to try and use up the last of the aloe.

"Well, I probably shouldn't after everything we did to each other, but I trust you. Maybe not to play nice with people threatening any of us, but I'd trust you with my life at this point." He slid his arm around her shoulders, she leaned her head into him.

"I suppose that makes sense, I'm the only person you have to talk to. I know how much you hate lying to them. Except you have Trubel now." She whispered, he rubbed his hand in languid patterns over her arm.

"Yeah. Maybe. Let's get some sleep." Nick let her go, trying not to think too hard about his desire to correct her. He didn't trust her because she was all he had, he trusted her, because she'd earned it. More than anyone in his life, she just accepted every part of himself that he showed her. He closed his eyes, hoping to shut out that thought, but it was there now, and it wouldn't leave him.

"A job, when did you even interview? Are you taking Diana with you?" Nick gaped at her over the rice he was failing to make.

"I told you a week ago that I was looking into something, it's not my fault you and Trubel never listen when you have those books open." Adalind leaned across the table with a plate while she set the third place.

"Yeah, but you never told me you got it. Come here. " He waved her over, she rolled her eyes, waiting for the argument to start.

"Trubel is going to watch Diana. I talked to her before I even started looking for a job, I thought..." When she got to him he abruptly ended her defensive rambling by pulling her into a hug.

"I'm really happy for you. You were a good lawyer." He pulled back squeezing her shoulders, she furrowed her brow in suspicion.

"You're not mad?" She took a step back, he squinted at her, confusion plain in his eyes.

"Mad? Why would I be mad? I trust you to be safe, and I'll help you hide the body of anyone gets too nosey." He meant it as a joke, but then he frowned because he really didn't want to bury more bodies than he already did. The people eating tree in the woods was a hike, but it was pretty handy.

"It's a good job considering I don't have a license to practice here, and it's only part time. I was hoping you could drop me off Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I should get done before you, and I can just get a cab to the precinct. Your rice is boiling over." She pointed out, he cussed, going back to stir it, turning the flame down.

"Sure, if you text me when you get done I will pick you up any time I can. Where is Trubel?" Nick had volunteered to make supper when Adalind had complained her stomach was bothering her, but he was a worse cook than her, with the exception of four or five recipes.

"She said she'd be home soon, she's still out with Róta. I'm pretty sure they're dating at this point." Adalind set Diana in her high chair, she was starting to look like a toddler now, which was still fast, but considerably slower than before. Adalind had to give her more suppressant soon, she thought she saw her float her little singing book of numbers the other day.

"Of all the people to date she had to pick my partner. Will you taste this?" He held a spoon out to her with the curry on it. He held a hand under her chin as she wrapped her lips around the metal.

"Mm, try a little more turmeric, it's good though." She licked her lips, Nick couldn't help flicking his gaze down to her plush pink tongue.

"Hey! Is that curry! You guys are awesome. Róta and I hiked for like six hours, I am starving!" Trubel burst in, grinning, and filthy, trying to pick chicken out of the pan. Adalind swatted her hand away.

"Go wash up, you look like you've been rolling around in the mud. Do. Not! Tell me why." Adalind held up a hand when Trubel opened her mouth, she laughed, taking the steps two at a time.

"At least she's having fun." Nick offered, Adalind groaned, covering her mouth running to throw up in a trash can.

"Hey! Wow, are you okay?" Nick swooped in, gathering up her hair to keep it out of the way, and rubbing her back.

"I'm fine, I'm sure it's just a stomach bug. I feel okay most of the time." She waved him off, he helped her to her feet, and got her a glass of water.

"Are you sure you're okay to start work tomorrow?" He turned the stove off, trying to scrape the over cooked sauce from the edges of the pan.

"I'm not calling in sick on my first day. I'll take something for the nausea in the morning. I think I will go lay down though." She shuffled toward the stairs, he frowned, tying up the bag to take out. 

"You should try and eat something." Nick brought her up tea, and crackers once he'd fed Trubel, she smiled, setting her book down.

"Thank you. Stop giving me that look, I'll be fine. If you really want to make me feel better come to bed. I am miserable, and I need someone to cuddle." She told him, he smiled, sitting on the edge of the bed to take his shoes off. He didn't change into his sweats, but he did shift back against the headboard, and wrap his arm around her. She sighed, cuddling closer while he stroked her hair. He skimmed the pages while she read up on small claims laws, but it started to put him to sleep.

"I'm going to clean up downstairs, and put Diana to bed. Are you gonna be okay?" He pressed his nose against the top of her head, not quite able to admit it was a kiss.

"I'm fine, I won't break if you're gone for five minutes." Adalind shifted off him so he could get up, he watched her for a moment before slipping out of the bed.

"Hey, is Adalind okay?" Trubel already had the dishes in the sink, and the leftovers in the fridge. Nick checked to make sure she hadn't cellophaned the pot again.

"She says she's fine, I think she's just too stubborn to miss her first day of work." Nick grabbed the washcloth, wiping down the counter, and the stove.

"Can I ask you something?" Trubel's hands stopped in their work.

"About Grimm work, or about Róta?" He leaned against the counter beside her, she gnawed at her bottom lip, going back to washing.

"I guess it's more personal." She handed him a plate, and he dried it to put away.  
"Shoot." He watched Diana toddle on her feet for a step in her play pen before falling in her butt, and throwing her toy out.

"Do you still love Juliette?" Nick froze, half bent down to pick up Diana's toy.   
"Where did you hear that? " Nick handed the toy to the little blonde, who giggled, clapping it in her hands.

"Adalind thinks you do, but I don't think you're the kind of guy who could be here if you did." Trubel poured the dirty water out of the pot, splashing bits of rice across the sink basin. She used a cup to wash them down the drain.

"I don't know if I ever loved Juliette. I thought I did, but now... I don't know, maybe we were just together for so long that it felt comfortable, or maybe we were right for each other before I became a Grimm. Either way, I didn't fit in her life any more. I didn't want to fight for her anymore, so no, I don't love her." Nick put a hand up, stopping a teddy bear from flying out without really looking at it.

"You should tell Adalind that." Trubel turned the water off, setting the last dish on the rack to dry.

"I don't think that would be a good idea. She's stuck here with me, trust me I wasn't here first choice, and I don't want her to feel like she owes me anything. I gotta get her to bed. Goodnight Trubel." He scooped up Diana, using her to escape the conversation. As easy as Trubel was to talk to, he didn't want Adalind to find out about his inner turmoil. He should probably know how he felt before he tried to tell her.


	10. Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just because it's unexpected doesn't mean it's bad.

Adalind tucked the small bag into her purse, walking the short distance to the precinct. She didn't need Nick knowing about her purchase until she had answers. People greeted her as she got out of the elevator, it didn't look much different than Sean's precinct. Nick looked up as soon as she came around the corner, and he smiled at her.

She could watch him smile like that all day, and never grow tired of it. He waved her over, a few of the other officers teasing him for his dopey grin. She leaned down and kissed his cheek the way she did every day after work. She would not cry in a police station.

"Adalind? You okay?" Of course he picked up on it, because Nick was like a blood hound for her emotional turmoil. She nodded, holding a hand out to him so they could leave. He shot a look to Róta, who nodded in some silent agreement.

"Is that guy still being a creep? You know I can stop by and flash my badge at him if you need me to." Nick said while they got in the elevator

"That's very sweet, but I don't want you in there as a cop. If I had every guy that grabbed my ass arrested you'd have paperwork for the rest of your life." She waved him off, he frowned, putting a hand on the small of her back as they went out to the garage.

"Well that doesn't make me feel better." He opened the door for her, she giggled slipping past him just a little too close. She liked making Nick jealous, she liked that he cared.

"I am kind of tired though. Could you make sure Diana eats something green, Trubel is a bad influence?" Adalind felt a little bad for using his worry to get him to do what she wanted, but not bad enough not to do it. 

"Of course, you go lay down, I'll wake you up when supper is ready." He gave her hand a squeeze as they pulled up next to the trailer. This thing with the sleaze ball at work must really be bothering her, because Nick hadn't seen her look so tense since her mother brought her to his house.

"Thank you." She slipped up the stairs with a quick wave to Trubel, and went straight to the bathroom. She pulled out the package from the store, and set a timer on her phone. She sat on the tile floor with the doors locked for the longest three minutes of her life.

"Please God, I can't go through this again." She pleaded as she got up. Positive. All three of them were positive. She was pregnant. She was pregnant with Nick's child!

"Oh God!" She turned to throw up. What was she going to do? She had to tell him. It wasn't like she could hide it! He was going to be so mad. What if he left? What if he asked her to get rid of it? She wrapped her arms around her stomach. She could just start to feel the soft swell that would be her baby. She wouldn't get rid of it, even if that meant she lost Nick.

She curled up beside the toilet, and started to cry. She really didn't want to tell him this. She scrambled to her feet, wiping her eyes. She dumped the tests back in their box, and wrapped them in their bag so she could throw them away at work. She just needed a few more days to figure out how she felt. She would tell him on the weekend, and she would schedule an ultrasound. Seeing the baby would help. It would make him care about it.

She brushed her teeth, and crawled into bed once all evidence of her activities had been cleaned up. She curled around his pillow, and let herself cry silently. She didn't want to lose him over this. She didn't want to lose him.

By Friday she had scheduled an appointment, and made her decision. She would do whatever she had to for her child, the same as she did for Diana. She leaned back in her plush office chair, tucking her last file of the day back into her desk. She was terrified, but she was also determined.

"Hey Addy, I'm headed out for drinks on the town, you want to join me? I bet we can have some fun." Dillon sat on the edge of her desk, pushing her things askew on her desk. If this guy kept this up she was going to give him syphilis.

"Dillon, how many times do I have to tell you I'm married before you stop being such a flirt?" She plaster on her fake smile, trying not to make waves at her job over one idiot. 

"I've been married twice, it never stopped me " He reached out to brush her hair off her cheek, Adalind white knuckled her desk about two seconds from putting it through his temple.

"Hey hun, is this guy bothering you?" Nick strutted in like he owned the place, Dillon pulled back as soon as his doughy ass laid eyes on Nick, who could snap him in half with one arm. 

"Nick! You're early." She grinned up at him, Nick pressed into the guys space, looking him up and down until he slid off Adalind's desk.

"I missed my wife." He put a force behind the word wife that implied he would shoot Dillon for looking at her. She had never been so horny in her life. Then he leaned down with one hand on the arm of her chair, and the other coming up to fist in her hair as he kissed her. Not gently in the least.

He pressed into her, tugging her hair to make her moan, and open her mouth to him. His touch consumed her, devouring her lips, while he tasted her. She reached up raking her nails over his scalp, and hooking a leg around his knee. She whimpered when he pulled back, but he didn't let her go. Instead he pulled her to her feet, and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Nice to meet you Dillon Carver." Nick hooked the thumb of his free hand behind the badge on his belt before he walked her out. Good thing he had his arm around her, because her legs were jelly. Once they made it outside she slapped his chest.

"What the hell was that? I thought we had a no kissing rule!" She tried to sound irritated, but she could only managed a giddy sort of surprised.

"You told me not to come in there as a cop, but it was clearly bothering you to have to deal with him, so I went in there as your husband. What was I supposed to do, let him keep harassing you?" He looked a little guilty, but the smirk that tugged at his lips made it hard to take him seriously.

"I really appreciate it, and if that's how you deal with jerks hitting on me, I am all for it, but it doesn't seem fair that you can do it to save me, and I'm not allowed to kiss you in front of the parade of suburban hussies trying to hit on you." She said, a slow smile crept across his lips while he opened the door for her.

"Are you jealous?" He lingered in her space while she stood in the door, she reached up to give his hair a sharp tug.

"Like you weren't." She deflected, he closed the door, going around to the driver's side.

"Fair enough. You're allowed to kiss me if someone is overstepping, we can't have anyone blowing our cover. If you think it's necessary of course, you don't have to do anything." Nick told her, she watched him silently while he drove.

"Oh, you're on." She whispered, this was a dangerous game, and those were her favourite kind. She had to take advantage of it today, because tomorrow he might recant his statement.

"We should go to the park with Diana, I think she misses the sand box." Adalind casually mentioned it when they got inside. Nick have her a side eye, but didn't call her on it. She'd chosen the park, because it was a good middle ground. The pool would be too obvious, and walking around the neighborhood probably wouldn't get her anywhere. At the park though, soccer mom's got super aggressive with their flirting.

"Sounds fun, did you want to come Trubel, or do you have another date?" Nick looked up from putting together sandwiches. He decided to wrap them in plastic, and put together a sort of picnic if they were going to the park. Adalind had changed into a simple, but flattering wrap, and a pair of yoga pants that made it hard for him to keep his eyes off her ass.

"It's not a date! Róta is taking me to the firing range. I need to be able to use any weapon at my disposal." Trubel blushed, Adalind patted her on the shoulder, pulling out the cooler.

"If you make out in the cruiser, it's a date." She told her, Nick chuckled, dumping the ice packs into the cooler to stack the food neatly on top.

"Well remember your key this time either way." Nick shouldered the cooler, and held the door for Adalind. She pushed the stroller, but Diana would not be contained. Since she got walking under wraps she'd been running around everywhere.

"I wish I had this kind of energy." Adalind had to buckle her in, and pick up the pace. Fortunately the park wasn't far.

"Dadda!" Diana flailed in the stroller, trying to get to him. He'd heard her say it a couple of times before, but it always made him a little giddy.

"Alright sweety, calm down." He unbuckled her, and carried her the rest of the way. She happily tugged at his hair once she got up there.

"You spoil her." Adalind pointed at him while she folded the stroller to lean it up against the tree right beside the sand box.

"How could I not, look at those eyes. Okay, go play sweety." He let her down, and she took off running for the sandbox, she only made it four steps before she face planted, but she bounced back up.

"I thought you said she had my eyes?" Adalind spread out a blanket for them to sit on. He set the cooler on one corner to hold it down.

"She does." Such a simple line, but it made her heart race to hear it. How did he have so much power over her? If he still hated her it would be easy to break the news, maybe even funny to watch him squirm, but now the thought of him never flashing her that easy smile again made her stomach turn.

"Tell me you packed those brownies I made last week. I know I stashed some before Trubel got to them." Adalind unzipped the cooler, examining it's contents. She frowned when she realized there was no form of chocolate inside. She turned to pout at him, but he held out a brownie wrapped in cellophane from the pocket of his jacket.

"It's the last one." He told her, she snatched it, grinning down at her chocolatey treat while he kept watch over Diana.

"When do you think she'll stop growing so fast? It's only been six months since she was born, and she looks well over a year old." Nick grabbed a sandwich, and slid back to lean against the tree. Adalind joined him with a thermos of juice, had she known she'd have the last brownie she would have brought milk.

"It should stop when she starts puberty. I went through it when I was ten." She offered him a coveted bite of brownie. He leaned forward taking a small bite. Diana flung shovels of sand into a pile, packing it into some mysterious shape. There weren't many people at the park yet, most of them weren't home from work yet.

"That seems early, God I hope she doesn't hit it any sooner. I can't decapitate horny teenage boys." Nick watched as one of the little boys with a nanny came over with a bucket, and Diana happily helped him fill it with sand. Adalind smiled, she really hoped he was around that long. She scanned the people around them, looking for the usual pack of horny cougars that hit on Nick.

Nick couldn't stop looking at Adalind. Her blue eyes watched everything around them, even when she felt safe she never completely let her guard down unless they were alone. The fall breeze swept little strands of her golden hair out of place, tickling her cheek. Her lips were still a shade too red from his kiss, and he really wanted to repeat it.

He'd spent the better part of their time together trying not to think about how soft her lips were, or the way she responded to his touch. He didn't want to take advantage of her, but the longer he spent with her the more he thought about it. He looked away from her, just long enough to catch someone's eye.

"That lady has been staring at me since I sat down, I don't have mustard on me or something do I?" He knew she would take the bait, and if she didn't he would know she didn't want to kiss him again.

"No, you look immaculate, she's starting because you're the hottest guy out here." She shifted closer to him, he looked around.

"I'm the only guy out here." He pointed out, she grabbed his collar, pulling him down into a slow, but passionate kiss. He responded without hesitation, pulling her into his lap. She pressed against him, nipping at his lower lip before soothing it with her tongue. He buried his hands in her hair, deepening the kiss. She tasted of chocolate as he plundered her mouth.

"Mommy! Ribbet!" Diana broke them apart, presenting a very large, bright tree frog. Adalind giggled, leaning her head against Nick's neck.

"Excuse me. I'm afraid that's my frog." A small man in a suit pointed to the frog Diana held, Nick looked up at him, his gaze turning serious.

"Using pheromones to manipulate people may not be illegal, but it's certainly unethical. I think you'd better keep track of your snacks if you want to keep them. This is a frog my daughter found, and as the saying goes, finder's keepers." Nick dismissed him, he swallowed hard, looking at the frog again, but chose to hurry off rather than fight about it.

"Why don't we let that pretty frog go play with it's froggy friends sweety." Adalind smiled at her, moving off Nick's lap, but leaving a leg sprawled over his knee, and their arms touching.

"Ribbet! Ribbet! Ribbet! Ribbet!" Diana sang as she rushed off to release the frog. Adalind pulled Nick's hand into her lap, tracing the lines on the palm of his hand.  
"Do you really think of her as your daughter?" Adalind picked up her brownie, taking little bits off with her fingers to eat.

"Should I not? I know we're not... I am helping raise her though." He waved his hand between them, he didn't want to overstep, but Adalind had been the one to teach her to call him Dad. He took care of her like she was his own.

"You definitely should, I just didn't expect you to. I know you said you wanted kids with Juliette, but what about now. So you still want kids?" Adalind stared off into the middle distance, Nick let out a sigh of relief. He had no idea how he would have distanced himself from them if she had said he needed to.

"Yeah, raising Diana has been amazing. If anything I want kids more now." Nick held an arm out as Diana made her way back to them. She happily fell into his arms, getting sand, and grass all over him, but he just scooped her up to his lap.  
"Juice!" She made grabby hands at the thermos Adalind drank from. She pulled a juice box out of the cooler.

"What do you say?" She poked the straw in, holding it just out of her reach.

"Juice... Pwease?" She scrunched her face up, like remembering the word took Herculean efforts. Adalind smiled, giving her the little box.

"Let's head home, it will be dark soon, and this little monster need a bath." Nick tickled her side, Diana giggled, squirming toward Adalind to find safety. Adalind nodded, helping clean up while Diana happily munched on Cheerios, and drank her juice. 

They had moved her crib to the other empty room, where they already kept her toys, but Adalind still worried about her. Nick never dismissed that worry as unfounded, so they kept the video feed for her room up all night to make her feel better. Getting her cleaned up had taken quite some time, and had defeated Adalind's outfit. She pulled on one of Nick's shirts, fiddling with the buttons when he came in.

"Sorry, Diana got sand, and soap on my last clean pair of sleep clothes." She folded his sleeves over her hands. He looked her over, his eyes sticking to the hem of his shirt where her pale thighs were just barely covered by the thin white fabric.

"It's fine, did you need me to throw in a load of laundry?" He pulled his shirt off, tossing it at the rather full hamper.

"No, I already have, I have something I have to talk to you about though." She sat on the edge of the bed, tucking her feet up under her thighs. He crouched down in front of her, studying her pinched expression.

"Are you okay? Are you still feeling sick?" He put his hand on her knee, only realizing once he'd done it how intimate the touch would be without her wearing pants.

"No, I mean, a little, but that's not what this is about. You should sit." She squeezed his hand, nodding to the spot next to her on the bed. He frowned, moving over to sit as he was instructed.

"You know you can tell me anything." He kept her hand between his, brushing his thumb across her wrist.

"I'm pregnant." She blurted it out, if she waited one more second she might not be able to get the words out.

"What?" He didn't let her go, or shove her away, so she'd call it a win. Maybe he was still in too much shock to be disgusted. She pulled away, gnawing on her bottom lip.

"It's yours, from the Amor Odium. I scheduled an ultrasound for tomorrow, I thought... I thought you might want to come." She looked down at her hands, tangled up in his sleeves, she couldn't bare to look at him.

"Of course I want to come with, I can't believe this. I... This is why you've been sick." He ran his hands through his hair. She nodded, finally glancing up at him through her lashes. He had gone pale, like death. She flinched away from him.

"Nick?" He shook himself, the colour returning to his skin.

"I'm going to be a Dad." He whispered. "I really want to kiss you right now." He turned brushing the lose strands of her hair from her cheek. Such palpable relief washed over her that tears fell in the wake of his touch.

"You better!" She let out a wet, happy little sob of laughter. He pounced, tasting the salt, and feeling her smile against his lips. He pulled her into his lap, taking his time exploring her kiss. He moved to kiss away her tears, across her cheeks, and down her jaw. He nipped at her neck, leaving a mark just at the hollow bellow he ear. 

She gasped, swatting his back. He chuckled into her shoulder, laying his head there to just hold her. She let him have a moment, reveling in his solid frame beneath her, but soon she kissed his brow, and moved down to his lips.

"This is not stopping here." She tugged at his belt, the metal clicking loudly against leather as she ripped it from his jeans. He'd already taken off his tee, and was pretty sure the only thing between his mouth, and the taste of her was his button down shirt. He slipped a hand between them, watching the storm of passion in her blue eyes as he slowly undid each button.

He picked her up, carrying her gently back up the bed to lay her down. He shocked off his jeans before leaning himself over her. The white dress shirt unbuttoned, but still pooled around her like a halo. He licked a stripe across her collar bone, nipping down to lavish her breasts with the attention they deserved.

"Nick! Please!" She gasped, arching up into his touch. He dipped his hand down to give her the friction she needed, not quite ready to move on from the sweet little mewls of pleasure his tongue evoked.

He groaned, working two fingers into her wet heat, while his thumb slowly stoked that heat. She writhed beneath him, raking her nails down his back. He finally kissed down to the soft swell of her stomach. He fell still, pressing a gentle kiss to either side it. Adalind watched him, reaching up to run her hand through his hair. 

When he lingered she lost her patience. She toppled him on to his back, and climbed over him. He leaned up, moving his hands over the swell of her hips as she slid down on his hard length. He groaned, collapsing back to watch her ride him. Her hips rolling against him, with her hands on his legs.

"Adalind!" He growled, sitting up to capture her peaks. She gasped picking up the pace to chase her climax. 

"Nick! Oh God Nick!" She clenched around him, her hips stuttering. He groaned, rolling her to her back to work her through it. Her shaking legs wrapped around him, pulling him closer, he spilled inside her, collapsing in a tangle of limbs. She curled up against him, tucking her arms under her head, and it didn't take long for them to drift off.

Nick woke up feeling refreshed, with Adalind still pressed into his side. Her hair fanned out across the arm under her head, and at some point she had pulled his shirt back up around her shoulders. She looked small, almost delicate with her cheek pressed against her hands. It was hard to believe such a small woman could break a grown man in half with a thought.

His life has taken such unexpected turns more than once, but even with all the madness that had gone on in his life he'd never imagined this would be where he ended up. His mind drifted back to when they met, when she had cursed Hank. He could still remember the look on her face when he took her power. The first moment he'd ever seen her as a real person, and not just his enemy. Now she was the dearest thing in his life.

"You okay?" Adalind whispered when she stirred, not even fully awake before her concern at seeing him up, and thinking found her.

"Yeah." He shifted over to look at her, brushing his hand up her arm to pull her closer.

"Really?" She grinned. Last night had been perfect, but that didn't mean things couldn't go wrong now.

"Are you?" Her worry seized him for a moment, he didn't want her second guessing this.

"If anyone had said what we did last night was even a possibility given how we met..." She trailed off.

"No, I wouldn't have believed them either." He let his eyes drift across the first rays of sun spilling into their room. It was their room, it felt so good to finally have her in his arms, and really share himself with her.

"Everything in our lives is so complicated, but last night that all kind of went away, at least for a little while." She ran her hand slowly down his chest, resting just above the sheet, her thumb tracing the v in his hips. 

"Things are never simple with us, but that's not necessarily bad." He slid his arm out from under her, he had to shower before whatever appointment Adalind had made. He didn't bother with pants, and Adalind definitely took the time to watch him go.

"You want a hand in there?" She went with him to wash up, and brush her teeth. 

"When is the appointment, because if you get in here I don't think either of us are getting clean?" Nick stuck his head out, she messed up his wet hair.

"In an hour, so I should probably go make breakfast, as delicious as you look." She kissed him, getting just a hint of the soap that ran down his cheek.

"Mm, so we have time for waffles?" He slid a hand up her waist, under the unbuttoned shirt. He loved the way she looked in his clothes.

"I think I can manage that. I should probably wear pants." She looked down at herself, he furrowed his brow.

"I'm not sure it's worth it." Adalind swatted his chest, going to dress in something a little more appropriate for a doctor's appointment.

"You look happy, it's kind of creepy. What's wrong with you?" Trubel mumbled, half asleep as she dug through the fridge. 

"I am happy. I am also making waffles so get out of there." Adalind pushed her out of the fridge to get what she needed. 

"Is that a hickey? Gross, are you two finally banging?" Trubel hopped up to sit on the island, Adalind shooed her to the edge of it.

"Yes, and there's other news, but Nick should probably be down here for it." She cracked the eggs, tossing them at the trash one at a time.

"Okay. That's not cryptic or weird at all." Trubel turned when she heard Nick coming down, he came over, putting a hand on the small of Adalind's back, leaning in to kiss her.

"Is this news going to be as nauseatingly sweet as that was, because you two are adorable?" Trubel poked him with her boot, Nick swatted her away, grinning like a goof.

"Well, we're going to need you to watch Diana today, because we have an appointment for a sonogram. Adalind is pregnant, we're going to have a kid." He practically bounced on his feet as he said it. Adalind giggled, pouring batter into the waffle maker.

"What? Really? Like the two of you, I thought you weren't getting all, you know, until now obviously?" Nick and Adalind shared a look, while Trubel blinked owlishly at them, trying to wrap her head around it all.

"We weren't, there was a whole attempted murder potion that made us... The point is it happened, and we're happy about it." Nick picked up the waffle she flipped onto a plate, juggling it back and forth to avoid burning his finger.

"Hey! Use a plate." She slid one over to him. He set the waffle on it, grabbing the syrup.

"Okay, that's kind of a lot. I mean Diana's what like two, not even, and you're having another baby. I don't know anything about babies, I can hardly handle watching Diana!" Trubel started to sound a little panicked.

"Don't worry, I will take maternity leave, and they'll let me being the baby into work until they're a toddler. Diana is actually only six and a half months old. She looks two, and she's starting to actually learn sentences, but she was born about a month and a half before we got here. This baby probably won't age as fast. Oh God Nick, what if they're like you, or they're some combination of the two of us like a hexin-grimm, or a Grimm-a-biest! There could be complications!" She almost dropped the batter when the spike of panic hit her, Nick took the bowl from her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. No matter what we're going to love them, and if the baby is half as stubborn as you nothing could touch them." He pulled her into his arms, she sagged against him, fisting her hands in his shirt. Trubel dashed forward, hugging them both.

"I'm so happy you two are finally together!" She squeezed them, pulling back so she could save the burning waffle.

"Okay, okay, stop getting me started, I need to eat so we don't miss this appointment." Adalind waved them away from her, things settled into their morning routine with ease.


	11. Going Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The situation changes, will they change with it?

"A boy." Nick said for the six hundredth time, flipping down on the couch. He had a copy of the ultrasound in his hand, his fingers tracing over the blurry shape over and over.

"Yes, we're having a son." Adalind smiled, sitting beside him on her knees, and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He looked so stunned by it all, like any minute he was going to wake up, and it would all be gone. His phone rang in his pocket.

"Are you going to get that?" She dug in his pocket since he was still a little preoccupied. She looked at the ID.

"Hey, Trubel, are you okay? Nick is still kind of shell shocked? Where are you and Diana?" Adalind got up, worry creasing her face.

"She's with Lena, we've got a serious problem. A wahrheitssucher is rampaging through the national forest behind the neighborhood, Róta thinks it has the wesen version of rabies. We could really use Nick out here." It sounded like she was running, Adalind frowned, she didn't actually know what a wahrheitssucher was.

"I'll send him, where are you?" She slapped Nick on the shoulder, he looked up, finally setting the photo down.

"East of the tree, we're trying to heard it towards you. Hurry up, this thing has some kind of miasma." Trubel hung up, and Adalind told him what was going on. She went to get Diana, and he went to find Trubel. Running through the woods at dusk wasn't exactly a picnic, but it didn't take long before he could hear them.

"Trubel!" Nick pulled his sidearm, holding his light against the side of it. He didn't need it yet, but he would soon. A little modeled green woman with twisted horns came barreling out of the underbrush, her huge eyes were red, and weeping a thick, foul smelling liquid.

"I got her!" Trubel's voice broke through the trees. The girl screeched, shaking like the leaves of a tree, and a choking green mist puffed out around her.

"Nick, we have to get her to swallow this!" She tossed him a vial while she tackled into her, Nick ran in without thinking, forcing the purple liquid down her throat. The mist made his eyes water, and stuck to his skin like tar.

"What the hell is going on? What is this stuff?" Nick cuffed the girl, getting up to wipe his face on the inside of his shirt.

"Trubel?" Róta stumbled into the clearing, cringing at the sight of them, sticky with the green sheen of the wahrheitssucher's miasma.

"Róta! How are you so beautiful after running through the woods for half an hour?" Trubel grinned at her, a dazed, dopey sort of look in her eyes.

"Wahrheitssucher means truth seer, their miasma is sort of like a truth serum. You two should shower. It wears off, but the longer it's on you the stronger it gets." Róta explained to Nick, holding a gloves hand out to stop Trubel.

"Oh! That's not good, I have a lot of things I don't want you to know." Nick grabbed Trubel, trying to usher her towards the house.

"Yeah? Like what?" Róta had a wicked smirk, thinking they would be embarrassing secrets she could use to rib him with later.

"Like how I'm a Grimm, so is Trubel, and Diana is of Royal blood, which is why people are trying to take her, and kill Adalind. I'm here with a false identity, to keep her safe, and we only just got together, and we're having a son, and oh God! Why can't I stop?" Nick covered his mouth, biting down hard on his hand. Róta woged looking at them in shock. Her steps had faultered with the gravity of all he had said.

"Oh, we have shrouds that Adalind made us." Trubel said, pulling her ring off, Róta stumbled back a step, as if the void black of her eyes had physically slapped her.

"Jesus! You... You can't be." She watched them, shifting the girl she had tossed over her shoulder. Whatever they'd given her had knocked her out.

"I wanted to tell you, but every wesen I've ever told had tried to kill me, even Adalind, and I really didn't want to hurt you. I love you. You're the only girl that's ever really understood me, and I really, really don't want you to hate me. " Trubel tried to grab at her, Róta moved away from them.

"I need to get her to my mother so we can make sure this is over." Róta left them, Trubel turned to Nick as they approached the fence.

"I love her, and now she's mad! I have to go after her!" She ran after Róta, Nick raised his hand to stop her, but waved it off, he wanted to stop spewing truth all over before he went anywhere. He jumped the fence, scrambling to get over the top. 

Adalind gasped when he came upstairs, closing the door to Diana's room. She held her hand under her nose when she caught the smell. He nodded, stripping out of his clothes as he went into their room.

"What happened? Why so you smell like Gin, and swamp?" She balled his clothes up, and stuffed them in a plastic bag she would normally use for the changing table.

"We found the wesen. Apparently it's name means truth seer. We got hit by this oh so pungent mist, which apparently works a little like a truth serum. I blew our cover, and told Róta everything. Trubel showed her the shroud, and chased after her. I need to shower, and go after Trubel, because I don't know what they'll do once they know, and apparently it's impossible not to answer a question while under the influence of this stuff!" Nick turned on the shower, not bothering to wait for the water to get warm.

"Wow. That's a lot. Should I take Diana and hook up the trailer?" She looked over her shoulder at the door to the hall.

"No, but you might want to pack a few things just to be safe. I am really sorry about this. I really like this house, and this neighborhood. I thought it would be a good place to raise our son, but not if everyone knows I'm a Grimm. I've faced down literal fire breathing monsters, but nothing has ever scared me like the idea of losing our son." Nick scrubbed his skin raw trying to get all of the slime off him.

"Hey, Trubel is back! I'll check on her, you get clean." Adalind ran downstairs, Trubel looked shattered when she walked through the kitchen, dripping water from her clothes across the tile floor.

"What happened?" Adalind went to the laundry room, and grabbed her a towel. She wrapped it around her shaking shoulders.

"Derek sprayed me off with the pressure washer, and I told Róta I loved her, and she told me she didn't even know me, and that she needed time to think about us. I know I lied to her, but not about anything that matters. There was some guy there for the woman, he looked like a board member, like that lawyer you guys pointed out once. I don't know. It just hurts, I've never cared about anyone before!" Trubel sagged against Adalind, soaking through her night shirt quickly. Adalind took her to the fridge, and got a pint of ice cream out, then ushered her upstairs to get room.

"I know sweety, but it's just a fight. You'll get through this, just don't give up on her yet. Finding out you love a Grimm is a lot to process, trust me. You change, and eat that, then get some sleep. We'll figure out how to fix this in the morning, I promise." Adalind rubbed a hand over her back soothingly until Trubel stopped crying. It was so odd to see her so vulnerable, Trubel so rarely showed her honest emotions.

"She's okay, a little heartbroken, but nothing some ice cream, and a good night's sleep won't fix. I think we might need to put out some fires in the morning though." Adalind shrugged out of her night clothes that were now soaked through.

"You are so beautiful." Nick stared at her in just a pair of boxer briefs. She rolled her eyes, walking over to him, and taking his hand.

"Come to bed." She pulled him towards it, and he happily followed her down. He buried his face in her hair, taking a moment to just breathe her in.

"Do you still hate me? This... This isn't just because of the baby, and the situation we're in right?" Adalind whispered before he could get too excited.

"No, I haven't hated you for a long time. I certainly wouldn't be here with you if it wasn't about us, about how I feel about you. I'm terrified that I'm falling in love with you." 

"What? Why?" She couldn't imagine why he would love her, but she certainly understood why it would scare him.

"I don't know, you just make it easy... to just be me, you make me smile when I think I'm going to lose my mind, you would do horrible thing to protect me, I know you would, and so would I. I've killed for you, I didn't even have to think about it." He kissed her neck while he spoke, brushing his fingers over her side gently.

"What about Juliette?" Adalind could feel her pulse race as she spoke, but she had to know the answer.

"She never made anything easy." Nick whispered, it didn't really resolve her question, but then he was kissing her, and telling her how beautiful she was, how much he loved the way she tasted. She lost any attempt at higher thinking when he buried his head between her thighs. Turns out Nick honestly had the libido of a Greek God, because she didn't get to sleep until just before dawn. 

Nick woke up, exhausted, but pleased. Unfortunately it was early, very early, and someone was knocking on their door. Nick slid out of bed, and found pants so he could go answer it. Lena and Derek stood on the steps. Nick sighed opening the door for them. He was not up for this yet.

"I don't suppose you brought Róta with you, because Trubel is pretty broken up about whatever happened last night?" Nick scrubbed a hand over his face, going to the kitchen to make himself coffee.

"No, Trubel is at her apartment, she has been since four am apparently. We're here on behalf of the board, it took all night to convince them not to send a mob. One of them was at our house last night. The sick wahrheitssucher was his daughter. He told everyone you're a Grimm." Lena rubbed her thumb over the scar on her hand.  
"Do we have to worry about them telling the royals where we are?" Nick watched them, leaning back against the counter.

"No, like I said, we don't associate with them. No one knows except the board. Unfortunately they don't think it's safe to let you stay here. They've cleared us to offer you well over the market value of the house as incentive for you to relocate. We are really sorry Nick. I know what it is to be on the run. We can help you if you need." Lena pulled paperwork out of a file she had under her arm. Nick closed his eyes, trying to process what they would need to do now.

"How long do we have?" He grumbled into his palm, they shared a look.  
"Until the end of the week. I'm sorry." Derek told him, he poured himself the largest mug of coffee he could.

"Am I going to lose my job over this?" He pinched the bridge of his nose, sipping his coffee slowly.

"No, Róta is upset, but she wouldn't betray you guys. We made sure it won't get out if you stay in town." Lena shifted back and forth on the balls of her feet, Derek hooked his arm around her waist to get her to stop.

"I need to talk to Adalind, and get to work. I'll bring this back to you tomorrow if we decide to sell." Nick ushered them out of his house locking the door behind them. Adalind sat up when he came back with coffee.

"What did they say?" She rubbed her eyes, taking a large swig from her coffee.   
"The board is offering to buy the house to get rid of us. I should get to work, and email my Mother. Hopefully she has good news, otherwise we might have to move on. We might be able to stay in town, we still have jobs, but I don't know if I trust the board not to say anything to anyone who could link it back to the royals. It might be safer to leave. Unfortunately leaving will mean new identities, without the benefit of a fake transfer. I won't be a cop anymore." He fell back into bed, his head aching from too little sleep, and the after effects of the truth serum.

"They can't just run us out of our home because you're a Grimm! We need to talk to them. Once they see what you're like there's no way they would kick us out." She set her coffee on the nightstand to keep from spilling it in her anger.

"I don't know if it's worth fighting it. Even if they let us stay, we would never know if we were safe until it's too late. I knew we'd have to leave at some point, at least this way they're giving us a cash payout, and we're not sneaking off in the middle of the night." Nick felt cold, and hollow, he'd forgotten for a moment that this happy life they had was in constant peril.

"Let me look at the paperwork, you go to work, but maybe take a half day, I don't know what these people will do now that they know." Adalind kisses his pale lips, the colour and warmth seeping back in from her touch.

"You're right. We'll figure it out. Our next house needs to be a lot farther away from our neighbours." Nick got up to get ready. He would need to shower again.

N

Things have changed. It's safe to call.

M

Nick read the email six times, trying to spot any difference in cadence, or wording, but it seemed like the real deal. He certainly hoped so, because he could really use some good news. Not to mention he would really like to talk to Monroe right now. He grabbed a new burner on his lunch to call from a cafe away from anything that would tie back to them.

He didn't have a number for his mother, and he didn't want to call anyone's cell, so he dialed the number for the spice shop. It rang four times before someone answered.

"Spice and tea." He closed his eyes, a weight he didn't even know he'd been carrying falling from his shoulders at the sound of Rosalee's voice.

"Rosalee, it's Nick. I got an email from my mother, she said it was safe to call." She gasped, covering the phone to call for Monroe.

"Nick, it's so good to hear from you! Oh my God, your mother has been busy. Oh, here, Monroe wants to tell you." She handed to phone to him.

"Monroe? Is it safe to keep talking? I don't need this call traced." Nick smiled, he had really missed his friends.

"Oh yeah. Dude you have no idea. Your Mom slaughtered like half the royal family, and a bunch of other wesen. Renard is in line for the throne, and the resistance is backing him. Things are insane. You need to get back here man!" Monroe said, Nick laughed, dropping his head against the sticky diner table.

"You can't even imagine how happy I am to hear that. I've got to get back. I'll call you from the road." Nick practically ran back to the precinct to get his truck. Adalind had the paperwork spread out across the dinning room table when he came running in.

"Nick! What's wrong? What else I mean?" She looked up at him, Diana ran over to him, giggling wildly. He bent down, swinging her up into the air before pulling her into his side.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong. I have amazing news. I talked to Rosalee, and Monroe today. They said it's safe to go back to Portland. Do you want to meet Daddy's friends sweety?" Nick swooped her around in a circle.

"Yes! Yes! Yay!" Diana giggled kicking her feet as she bounced up and down. Adalind didn't look as excited as he felt.

"We're going back there? What about your job, and our cover? What about Trubel?" Adalind whispered, he set Diana down, kissing the top of her head before he went to sit in the chair next to her. 

"I have a job there, and friends. I can take leave here, so we can keep our covers in case something goes wrong, and Trubel would come with us if she wanted to, or she can stay if she wants. We can help set her up if we have too. I won't just abandon her, but I need to go back. I still have a life there." Nick reached out to hold her hands, she looked down at where his warm hands engulfed hers. 

"So we take the offer. Do you want to buy a house in Portland?" She forced a weak smile, he brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, leaning forward to kiss her.

"For now we'll take the money, we can stay with Monroe for a few days, figure out what's going on, or get a motel room if Trubel comes with. We don't know what's happening yet, we can call from the road. Is Trubel back?" He looked up at the stairs, Adalind nodded.

"I should go talk to her." Nick got up, leaving Adalind at the table. She picked up a pen, and started signing the papers. She didn't want to leave this place. She didn't want to risk going back there, and losing everything.

"Nick! I'm so sorry man, I didn't know it was going to do that to us, I shouldn't have gone after Róta, this is all my fault!" Trubel paced across her room, looking even more exhausted than he felt.

"You were helping someone, it's not your fault. Did you work things out with Róta?" Nick held his arms out to her, she pulled him into a manly sort of hug.

"Yeah, we worked it out. She's not super happy that I lied, but she's willing to give me a chance. She told me the board is on your case." Trubel couldn't manage to stand still, he nodded, a smile tugging at the corner of his lip.

"They are. They offered to buy us out of the house. I got word it's safe to head back to Portland though. Adalind and I were going back, we wanted to know if you wanted to come with. I've got some friends that would love to meet you, and my Mother is a Grimm." Nick offered, she rubbed the back of her neck.

"I can ride with you, but I think I want to stick around, give this thing with Róta a real shot. She actually suggested I get like a PI license. I think it would be kind of cool." Trubel blushed, Nick chuckled clapping her shoulder.

"I'm happy for you, but you know you can always stay with us. No matter what happens here, your family now." He said seriously, she hugged him again, wiping at her eyes with the pack of her arm.

"Why do I always do this with you? Come on, let's get packing." It took a couple days to wrap things up, and get the things they wanted to take with them packed in the truck, and the trailer. The entire lab now took up almost every inch of trailer space. They wouldn't be sleeping in the trailer this time.

"I got us a hotel once we get there, I don't think the four of us would fit at Monroe's. I got a storage space for the trailer, so we can drop it off first. I don't want to jostle your crazy hexenbiest lab around any more than we have too." Nick said while they drove, Daina slept in the smaller back seats with Trubel. She'd been up all night with Róta.

"I packed it all securely. It's not going to explode." She made a face at him, he twined his fingers with her's, bringing them up to kiss the back of her hand.

"I know. I bubble wrapped tiny jars for three hours remember. I just don't want anyone to take notice of it. I don't know everything that's going on. " He set the cruise control once they were on the highway, they had a long way to go.

"Nick." Adalind whispered a while later, he looked over at her briefly. "I'm scared." She shifted closer to him, wishing this truck had a bench seat.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you, or my family." Nick said, trying to decide if he should pull off so he could hold her.

"I just don't think your friends are going to be very happy that you're with me." She twisted the long sleeves of her sweater in her hands.

"They know I'm with you." Nick said, Adalind glared at him, because that is not what she meant. "Okay the baby will be a bit of a surprise, but they got past our history to help you protect Diana, I'm sure they'll come around. I can tell Monroe when I call if you want. He'll warn everybody, so there aren't any surprises." He offered, Adalind shook her head, her hands going to her belly, rubbing the bump gently.

"No, I think it will be easier to convince them this is really something you want, and not an evil hexenbiest curse of we do it in person." She shifted, she couldn't quite get comfortable. He pulled into a gas station with a fast food place attached, parking.

"Adalind, nothing there is going to change how I feel about you, or our family." He turned so he could pull her into a kiss. She sighed, leaning her head against his brow until she felt centered again.

"Are you sure?" She didn't want to keep worrying about Juliette, but if anyone could tear them apart it was her. 

"Yes." He kissed her again.

"Are we there?" Trubel yawned from the back seat. They broke apart, laughing at her while she shifted, and fell back asleep.

"Has anyone talked to Sean? He's going to want to see Diana, and I don't know if the bed time story explanation of her life is going to be enough. I want her to know that he may be her father, but you're the one raising her, who didn't abandon her." Adalind held his hand while they went inside to get everyone something to eat. With Trubel riding along they'd need enough to feed six people.

"I don't know, I can ask when I call Monroe. I think Sean might be a bit busy vying for succession of the crown." He ordered more food than they could possibly eat, but he didn't want to stop again for a while, and Trubel always seemed determined to eat her body weight in fried food.

"Yes, but once he has it, what then. He's not taking my baby to be his royal heir. She can make that choice when she's an adult. An actual adult, not just someone who looks that old." Adalind carried half the food, and still they didn't have any free hands for the door.

"I know. We'll talk to him. I'm not going to let anyone take her. If we have to leave again so be it." He set the drinks down to open the door for her, she leaned her head against his chest briefly in an arms full sort of hug. He smiled, brushing her hair from her cheek.

Once Trubel woke up it didn't take long for everything to be eaten, and Diana had an even smaller bladder than Adalind, but they made it there eventually. Nick parked the truck around the corner from the spice shop. He'd been grinning since they made it to Oregon.

"Mommy, where this?" Diana tugged at her car seat looking out at the streets. Adalind went around to get her out of the back.

"This is where your Daddy's friend's work. We're going to meet them, and you grandma. Your other Daddy might be in there too. Do you want to meet your grandma?" She let her toddle around in front of them while Nick locked the truck, and Trubel popped her stiff joints.

"Gama! Gama!" Diana ran in circles around them, and Nick had to grab the back of her little purple sweater to keep her from falling. He scooped her up to carry her the rest of the way. She happily drummed against his shoulder, and chest.

"Spice and - oh my God! Nick! Monroe! Nick is here!" Rosalee ran around the counter, and Nick shifted to catch her hug without squishing Diana.

"Gama?" Diana frowned at her, tugging on her hair to get her attention.

"No sweety, this is my friend Rosalee, she's a fuchsbau." Nick explained when she pulled away, Diana's eyes went wide, and she wriggled to try and get to her. 

"Fox bow! I want fox!" She made grabby hands, Nick chuckled, pulling her back before she could topple out of his arms.

"She wants to see you woge. Foxes are her favorite. You can't just grab people sweety, it's not nice." He set her down, and she looked up with big eyes, tugging on Rosalee's shirt.

"Will you fox? Pwease?" She said, Adalind took her hand to make sure she didn't run around the spice shop as Monroe came up. 

"Sure sweety." She crouched down changing her face, Daina giggled, reaching out to stroke her fur gently, but not gracefully.

"Dude! You're here!" Monroe ran over to him, gathering him up into a rough embrace, that shook him hard enough one of his feet left the floor.

"Alright, alright. I missed you guys too. Where's my Mother?" Nick looked around the familiar room, soaking in the homey atmosphere.

"Everyone's in the basement, but she disappeared ten minutes ago. Your Mom is kind a terrifying man." Monroe gave him a wide eyed look, Nick scoffed tilting his head to listen. He turned just as his Mother came through the door.

"You weren't followed. Adalind. Diana, look how big you've gotten." Kelly nodded to her, ruffling Diana's hair before pulling Nick into a quick hug. Nick held on to her, taking a moment to enjoy being close to his mother again.


	12. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All good things must end. (boy I hope this is good) Nick gets his life back, and plans for the future.

"Nick..." Juliette breathed his name from the door to the basement. Nick turned at the sound of her voice, and she ran towards him. He caught her, and she clung to him, shaking in his arm. He looked over her shoulder at Adalind, but she looked away from him to let Diana talk to Kelly. She babbled, and giggled at her.

"We should get you up to speed. Who is this?" Kelly looked at Trubel, who stood beside Adalind, glaring at Juliette.

"Trubel, this is my Mother, Kelly, this is Trubel, she's a Grimm like us. She's been staying with us, learning about what it means to be like us. She's going back to Virginia once we get settled in, but I thought it would be nice for her to meet everyone first. This is Monroe, Rosalee, and..." Nick moved away from Juliette to put a hand on Trubel's shoulder with a proud little smirk.

"Juliette, is your partner here too?" Trubel moved forward between Juliette, and Adalind. Nick looked over at Monroe, raising a brow in question.

"Yeah, he's downstairs with Wu." Monroe cocked his thumb over his shoulder, Nick's eyes bugged out.

"Wu knows?" Nick picked up Diana to head towards the basement.

"Oh yeah. He kind of lost it for a while. We had to tell him." They filed down the stairs, Hank, and Wu grinned when they saw him.

"Hey! Welcome back prodigal Grimm!" Wu shook his hand, clapping him on the back.

"We've missed you at the precinct." Hank greeted him the same way Wu had, lingering in his space as if he couldn't believe he was really there.

"I've missed you guys too. My partner in Virginia was wesen, but it's not the same." Nick looked around at the set up, they had a lot of Monroe's books down there, and some things that looked like they came from Renard.

"Is that my Mother's hat?" Adalind gasped, Nick frowned, he didn't like the idea that they had her thing's down here.

"Yeah, we had a little problem with a Zauberbiest. Renard let us into the storage unit, and they said they were going to auction everything off, so we moved it back here. Sorry." Monroe said, Adalind shrugged, they could always move it if they got a place here. If they got a house together. Juliette seemed eager to see him.

"So, is Renard still our captain? Is he even in the country?" Nick set Diana down with her stuffed fox. She ran over to Rosalee, tugging on her hand. She crouched down to play with her.

"He's on leave officially, but if things work out he's not coming back except to wrap things up with the precinct. Wu is acting captain actually, it rattled a lot of cages when he announced it." Hank explained, sitting on one of the many stools around the large table with books, and papers spread across it.

"With a little help from the resistance I took out Victor, Kenith, and the King. Regard is the last direct heir. It's been bloody despite his claim. I'm their as often as I'm here. I only flew back in this morning." Kelly told him, Nick shifted closer to Adalind. He didn't know how he felt about Renard being in Austria. If he wanted his daughter they might have to move to another country to accommodate split custody. Not that he wouldn't go, but he certainly didn't speak the language.

"Has he asked about Diana?" Adalind reached out, putting her hand on Nick's arm, he wrapped it around her waist, comforting her.

"No. He is trusting Nick, and yourself to raise her for now. I don't think that will be a problem until he's on the throne, maybe not even then. He doesn't want people to see her as a vulnerability they can exploit." Kelly said, Adalind pulled her coat tighter around herself, her free arm over her stomach.

"In lighter news, Rosalee, and I got married, and we're having a baby!" Monroe broke, practically vibrating with excitement.

"What?" More than just Nick spoke up. Everyone seemed a little shocked by that news.

"I just found out when you got here. Rosalee took the tests last night. We're having a baby!" Monroe grinned, Nick hurried over to hug him.

"Congratulations man, we actually..." Before he could share his good news Diana promptly turned and threw up on the floor.

"Daddy! My tummy hurts!" She wailed, Nick ran over to her, pulling a wipe out of the inside pocket of his jacket.

"It's okay honey, let's get you cleaned up. We shouldn't have let you eat so much junk food. I'm really sorry Rosalee." He swept her up into his arms, and bringing her upstairs, Adalind and Trubel rushed after him. Trubel waited outside the door.

"I guess I'll get the bucket." Monroe held his nose, they took her to the bathroom, sitting down with her, running her back gently.

"You want to stay with her. I'll let them know we have to get going. We should get her to bed." Nick got up in a crouch, reaching up to her. She took his hand, pulling him to his feet. He closed the distance, running his hands up her back, leaning in to kiss her.

"Is it horrible that I'm kind of glad we have to cut this short?" She whispered when he shifted her into a hug.

"No, I am so sorry Juliette is here. I thought she didn't want anything to do with my life as a Grimm. I don't know why she would want to be here." Nick slid back, rubbing her arms just because he didn't want to stop touching her.

"I bet it was a surprise for you. You two haven't really talked since you left. Trubel can take us back if you wanted to talk to her now." Adalind forced a smile, he gave her a look of disbelief, glancing back at Diana.

"No, I don't want to leave Diana. I can swing by Monroe's place in the morning, give them the good news. You should rest too, you are pregnant." He raised a brow at her, she smiled a little easier.

"Okay, I'll get her ready. Will you see if Rosalee has something for her stomach?" She patted him on the butt as he left the bathroom. 

"Yes, I got Trubel and Diana a separate room with two beds. You'll have to share." He winked at her, taking a few steps backwards. She laughed, crouching down to check on Diana.

"Hey, we have to head out. Diana isn't feeling great, Adalind thought you might have something to help her stomach. I can grab it, I'll come by in the morning. I'm sorry about the mess. We had a lot of junk on the drive here." Nick cringed at Monroe while he cleaned up said mess.

"It's not a big deal Nick, we've had way worse down here. There's tea on the counter. You can bring the bottle back tomorrow." Rosalee gestured to the stairs, Nick nodded to the rest of them, turning to go back up the steps.

"Nick. I really need to talk to you." Juliette grabbed his arm, he looked at her, worry creasing her brow. Six months ago he'd woken up in bed beside her, and sworn that he loves her, but now... She just made him feel tired. He didn't want to deal with this.

"I have to get Diana to bed. Monroe has my number. Whatever it is we can talk about it later." Nick pulled away, taking the steps two at a time, a murmur of shock circled the room.

"Nick! Why is he doing this? You don't think Adalind put some kind of hex on him do you, what if he doesn't remember me?" Juliette clutched her jacket, her eyes tearing up. Rosalee moved to her side, hugging her while her focus remained on the door at the top of the stairs. 

Getting Diana to bed proved easier than getting her to drink the tea, but they didn't think she would throw up again. Adalind went to unpack, and Trubel caught him before he could join her in their room.

"Nick, I don't think I have to tell you that Juliette lady wants you back. You're not going to go with her are you? I mean even if she wants the whole thing, Grimm and all." Trubel fixed him with a hard stare, one that said she hoped he wasn't that stupid. 

"She doesn't, and no matter what I think that ship has sailed. I'm having a kid with Adalind, I'm not giving that up." Nick told her, Trubel let him go nodding in approval. Nick ducked into his room. Adalind was in the shower, so he pulled up local real estate in the area.

"Hey hun, how do you feel about ranch houses?" Nick set his phone on the sink, she pulled the curtain open, giving him an amazing view of her naked with water, and flowery soap cascading down her curves.

"As long as it has more than one bathroom I'll be happy." She crooked her finger, beckoning him in with her. Nick ripped his shirt over his head, kicking his boots off. He got naked in record time, pouncing on her in the warm spray of water. She closed the curtain to save the floor from flooding before he pinned her to the plastic shower wall, resting her hips on the handicap bar across it.

She hooked her legs around his hips while his feet slid back until they hit the edge of the tub. His mouth devoured her, and her nails dug into his back. He slipped into her with little pretence, groaning loudly against her. She leaned down, biting little marks along the left side of his neck, down to his shoulder.

He shifted her with a rough jerk, tugging her hair back to get his mouth on the delicate column of her neck. The new angle made her gasp, quickly galloping towards her climax. He worked into her relentlessly, not worried he would hurt her. She could more than take the brunt of his Grimm ferocity. 

"Nick!" She whimpered, seizing around him. He came only two thrusts into her orgasm, nearly collapsing with the intensity of it. Only a strong hand on the handicap support bar he'd perched Adalind a top kept his feet under him.

"The water is getting cold." Adalind mewled, going limp in his arms. He growled, ducking under the spray to quickly clean them off, then turning the knob. He didn't quite have the wherewithal to get them out to get dry.

She reached passed him to grab the fluffy hotel towels. He smirked rubbing the soft fabric over her naked body. She giggled, wrapping one around his shoulders.

"Get dry you goof." She pulled away just enough to towel off her front. He sighed, stepping out of the tub, and drying himself off. He grabbed his phone, but didn't bother with clothes. He flopped down on the bed on top of the comforter. Adalind took her time with her evening rituals, brushing her hair, and her teeth before she came to join him.

"What about this one? It has four beds, two baths, and an out building." He turned the phone to her as she got into bed. She took it from him, looking at the quaint little house outside the city with a few acres and beautiful lake front.

"Diana would love the lake, we could even put up a swing." He pointed as she scrolled through the pictures. She looked up at him, touched by the thought he had put into their future.

"Nick." She whispered with reverence, he shifted his gaze to her. "I love you." He watched her, too stunned to speak. 

He bent down, kissing her, soft, and full of passion. He spent the night showing her what he failed to say. Morning came and went, and they were still tangled up together when his phone rang. He reached out blindly bringing it to his face.  
"Hello?" He croaked, trying to sit up, but Adalind was draped across his chest.  
"Nick?" Even after all this time he recognized her voice. He wiped at his face, looking down at his watch. 12:45

"Juliette, is something wrong?" He grumbled, lifting himself carefully out of Adalind's grasp, and looking for pants. He could grab them something to eat while he delt with this.

"No, I wanted to see if we could get lunch. I really need to talk to you." She said, he frowned, grabbing coffee from the lobby.

"I have to meet Monroe yet, I'll text you after. We can get coffee or something." He didn't want to commit to a meal. He wasn't even sure he wanted to talk to her.

"Okay. I kind of thought you might miss me. I don't know why you even left." She said, he frowned, pausing outside the door with a cup of coffee for Adalind in his free hand, his own nestled in the crook of his arm.

"I left because it was the right thing to do. I'll text you." He hung up without further talk, Adalind looked up at him with a sleepy smile.

"Coffee?" He tucked his phone into his pocket, and held the cup out to her. She sat up, happily taking the offered beverage.

"Who was on the phone?" She curled up against him when he sat back down, he put his arm around her.

"Juliette, she wanted to get lunch, and talk. I told her I still had to see Monroe. I'm supposed to text her so we can get coffee. I really don't want to deal with this." Nick sighed, she studied his features for a long time, sipping her coffee.

"You can't just ignore her. You never actually ended things with her. You told me yourself that you still loved her. You don't just get over that Nick, you need to face this." She got out of the bed, pulling on her long sweater, wrapping it around herself like a robe.

"You're right, I know you are, it's just exhausting. Did you want to come to Monroe's, I can tell him myself if you wanted to rest. I want to set up a doctor's appointment here, and look at a few of the houses. If it's really safe to stay we should find some place better to keep the trailer." Nick followed her as she went to brush her teeth, and get ready for the day.

"No, I want to be there when you tell them. I want to be able to defend myself when they start making accusations." She said, Nick made a face, bracketing her with his arms, and kissing her neck.

"They don't hate you. Adalind, they're going to be happy as long as we are." He laid his head on her shoulder, she reached up, running her fingers through his hair.

"They are Juliette's friends, not mine. I don't know if they are going to understand." She rubbed her hand over her belly. He moved to wrap her up in his arms.

"They're my friends, and they'll love you." He turned to get in the shower since he hadn't gotten very clean the night before. They got Trubel, and Diana, who had been binge watching old cartoons. Monroe opened the door, grinning at them.

"Hey, you brought Adalind, we were just making lunch. I hope you like black bean burgers." He ushered them inside, Nick put a hand on the small of her back to lead her in. It didn't go unnoticed.

"I did, we actually have some pretty big news. I would have told you last night, but Diana got sick, and I guess part of me didn't want to say it in front of Juliette. Why was she even there last night?" Nick let them go ahead to talk to Monroe by himself. He looked at Nick like he'd lost his mind.

"I don't know man, maybe because she loves you, and you've been gone for six months. You left kind of suddenly. She's been pretty broken up about it." He tilted to be able to watch Rosalee in the kitchen with everyone else.

"I know that, but she wanted to go back to a normal life. I didn't just run off, I left so she could move on. When we first moved in we were on track to get married, and have kids. Once I became a Grimm I started lying to her, and we got distant. Even after she turned my proposal down, and I knew why she was upset I didn't want to fix it. 

"I wanted to shield her. I almost lost her because I didn't think she could handle my life. Once she knew... She tried Monroe. It's not her fault, but this world, the wesen world was never something she was a part of. It was something she visited. She wanted to be normal, and I'm never going to be able to give her that. I don't want to be able to give her that, I like being a Grimm." Nick scrubbed his hands over his face, Monroe's face looked as pained as he felt about it.

"Wow. Dude, that's kind of a lot. So you didn't just leave, you left Juliette. You don't think you can work it out. I mean it's Juliette man!" He sputtered, waving his hand to gesture at nothing. Nick looked over at Adalind, laughing with Diana in her arms.

"I don't want to work it out. Juliette made everything so hard, I was always the one working to fix us. I'm in love with Adalind." He whispered the words for the first time, and it made his chest hurt for the truth of it. Monroe's mouth fell open.

"You're what? With her? She tried to kill you! Is this another cookie thing?" Monroe looked around like something on his walls would make it all make sense. Nick laughed, because he was reacting exactly how Adalind said he would.

"No. This thing, with Adalind, it didn't happen over night. I've been living with her for six months, raising Diana. She's so much different than we thought. Yeah, she's vindictive, and she won't stand to be slighted without getting a little revenge, but she's also so smart, and funny. The other day she was in this... That's not the point, the point is I don't have to hide anything from her, I don't have to protect her from my life. She's saved my life more than once." Nick ushered him towards the kitchen.

"Adalind is pregnant." He blurted out as soon as he got him close enough so they could both here. Adalind gave him a look of disbelief.

"You have the tact of a Taureus-armenta in a china shop." Adalind hissed, he gave her a sheepish smile.

"Adalind's pregnant? Who's the father this time?" Rosalee gasped, Trubel glared at them, taking Diana.

"I'm going to take Diana outside. You're friends are assholes Nick." She trudged past them, Monroe, and Rosalee shared an exasperated look.

"I am, and Trubel's right, I thought you guys would be happy for us. It wasn't exactly planned, but we're as excited as you two are." Nick slid his hand under Adalind's coat, around her back, really accentuating the bump she had been going to grate lengths to hide.

"What about Juliette?" Rosalee gasped, Nick groaned looking up at the ceiling.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? I left her! I left the entire state so she could move on and have a normal life. I moved on, maybe it looks sudden for you guys, but it wasn't." Nick snarled at them, Rosalee flinched away from his anger.

"Nick, we're sorry. You just didn't give us a lot of warning. The last that we knew you hated each other. If you're happy, so are we." Rosalee told him, he sighed, the tension seeping out of his shoulders.

"She's right, I can't believe you just blurted it out. We definitely didn't expect to be here when we left, but I'm really glad we are." Adalind slapped his chest playfully, he covered her hand before she could pull away, bringing it to his lips to kiss the inside of her wrist.

"Me too." After that lunch went fairly well. They apologized to Trubel too, explaining where they had left off as far as Adalind was concerned. Once they calmed down Adalind, and Rosalee started talking about their pregnancies, and Monroe brought down old toys from when he was a kid for Diana.

"Are you okay to stay here? I want to bury this Juliette thing once and for all." Nick caught Adalind in the kitchen, she turned, pulling him into her arms.

"I'll be fine. Diana is in love with Rosalee, and Trubel is buried in one of Monroe's old wesen books. I'm pretty sure I could nap on the couch and no one would even notice, which sounds pretty inviting actually. Someone kept me up all night." She poked him in the chest, he chuckled kissing her goodbye.

"Call me if you need anything, even just a craving." He said while he backed out of the house. He text Juliette the location of a little coffee shop, one that wouldn't be too crowded, but that would have enough people that maybe she wouldn't make a scene. 

"Nick!" She hurried over to him as soon as she spotted him at a back table. She bent down to kiss him, and he turned his head, holding her back.

"Juliette, stop. I don't know what you think happened, but I left. I left you. You wanted me to be something I couldn't, and I didn't want to fight anymore, so I left." He repeated it, firmly, and calmly the way he would with a victim. She recognized his cop voice, and dropped back into her chair with a look of disbelief.

"That's what that was? You left with Adalind because I said I missed being normal? Just because I wanted things to calm down doesn't mean I don't love you. I wanted to work things out. I didn't want you to leave." Juliette reached for his hands, he pulled back, shaking his head at her.

"Juliette I don't. I love you, but I'm not in love with you. I don't want to keep struggling to fix everything, I don't want to be in a relationship with someone that thinks I need to be fixed. I left. I moved on. I'm with Adalind." She looked down at his hands, her eyes locking on the ring on his left.

"Did she do this to you? Is this like the coma?" She grabbed at the ring, trying to tug it off his finger.

"Juliette! Stop!" He pulled his hand away, taking the ring off, and setting it on the table.

"Adalind didn't do anything, except accept me. I know I messed up with you, I lied, and I put you in danger. I should have never made you remember me. I'm sorry, but it's over." He got up, paying for the coffee he didn't drink, and slipping his ring back on.

"Nick! You can't just leave! You can't walk out on a six year relationship because I had a moment of doubt. This can't just be the end! " She grabbed his arm, he looked down at her hands, closing his eyes.

"I'm sorry if my reasons aren't good enough for you. I can't change who I am, and I'm not willing to try in order keep you. Maybe I'm the ass hole, but I love Adalind, and we're starting a family. Please let this go." He pulled away from her, leaving her sitting alone at the table crying softly. He felt bad, but he didn't regret it.

"How did it go?" Adalind whispered, closing the door to Monroe's house to have this potentially heartbreaking conversation away from prying ears.

"Alright I guess. I think she's been under the impression that when I left I would come back to her. I explained why I left when I text her goodbye." He hooked his arms around Adalind's waist, she studied his expression carefully.

"She wants you back?" She gripped the front of his jacket in both hands, letting herself cling to him just a little for fear he would pull away.

"Maybe, but that doesn't matter, which I told her." He pulled her closer, leaning his head against her's.

"You're sure?" The words slipped from her lips, tight, and bitter. 

"Adalind. I love you. I am in love with you. I'm not going anywhere." He said firmly, accenting each sentence with a slow, searing kiss. She giggled, pressing against him to hide her blushing face.

"I love you too, I actually found a house I want to look at while you were out, if you plan to stick around." She gave him a coy smile, he brushed her hair back gently.

"I guess we should go look at it, because you're stuck with me." He lead her inside, to their friends, and their life, because nothing could come between them now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all folks. Please let me know what you think. 
> 
> Also I'm contemplating a story where Nick is in zombie Grimm, and Adalind helps him escape the royals. Let me know if you're interested.


End file.
